FIRST CONGREGATIONAL MEETING -HOUSE JATICK.
HISTOflY OF NATICK,
FROM ITS
FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1651
TO THK
PRESENT TIME;
WITH
NOTICES OF THE FIRST WHITE FAMILIES,
AND ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, OCT. 16,
1851, REV. MR. HUNT'S ADDRESS AT THE CONSECRATION
OF DELL PARK CEMETERY, <^c., <^c.. &c.
-v
BY OLIVER N . BACON,
ATTORNEY AT l.AW.
B O S T O nM^^W^^Sm^^^
\) PAMRELL & MOORE, I'RINTERS,
16 Devonshire Strkkt.
1866.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855,
By OLIVER N. BACON,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
5 ^ H ni t i 11
TO THE
YOUNG MEN OF NATICK,
WHO WISH TO HAVE A CORRECT KNOWLEDGE OF THE HISTORY
OP THE TOWN ; TO BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH,
AND CHERISH THE VIRTUES OF,
THE FATHERS OP THIS " PLACE OF HILLS,"
IS DEDICATED, WITH ARDENT WISHES FOR THEIR HAPPINESS
AND PROSPERITY,
BY
One of their number.
PEEFACE.
At the close of the labor of compiling this volume, and as it is submitted
to the perusal of its patrons, the author would beg their indulgence in a few
words by way of explanation of the inducements which led him to undertake
the work.
It was not from any confidence he had in his own ability over many of bis
fellow-townsmen, but all who had given any attention at all to the sub-
ject, with the exception of one who was abroad, were earnest in persuad-
ing him to undertake what they had either relinquished or indefinitely
postponed.
He felt exceedingly desirous that a history of the last thirty years,
the most eventful of any similar period in the history of the town, should
be blended with that of events in her earlier years, published and un-
published, and all presented in a connected form to the public, that the
antiquarian and the annalist, and more particularly the people of the town,
might have an opportunity of reading it without the labor of searching
it out in its original resting-places.
He saw, or thought he saw, a probability that much valuable history
would be soon lost, unless it was arranged and published and in multi-
plied copies placed in more secure receptacles than the drawers or attics
of the actors in the events, or their descendants.
In short, it has been his desire to furnish each family with an accurate
account of every event of importance and interest which has taken place
in their own town since its settlement, and to place it beyond the reach
of such accidents as a short time since destroyed the records of a neigh-
boring town.
He has endeavored to state facts accurately, and on the very best au-
thority ; to give no statistics but such as were reliable, and to guard with
care against the introduction of errors into his work.
To all who have aided him in the work, to Jthe Secretary of the
4 PREFACE.
Commonwealtb, the Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and
his friend Lyman Mason, Esq., of Boston, he would tender his grateful
acknowledgments. He is under especial obligation to Prof. Calvin,
E. Stowe, of Andover Theological Seminary, and Rev. Samuel Hunt, of
Franklin, Mass., for the use of manuscripts, as well as other important
assistance.
If the volume shall answer the end for which it was intended, if it
shall prove at once an accurate and impartial history of the town, the
highest hopes of the author will be realized. ,
O. N. B.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
General Description. Name and Signification. Manner of obtaining Posses-
sion. Original Boundaries. Construction of the First Village.
CHAPTER II.
Sketch of the Life of Eliot. Birth. Coming to New England. Settled as Teacher
at Roxbury. Journey in search of a place to locate an Indian To\ra. EHot
at Natick. Care of the Indians. Petitions to General Court in their behalf.
Letter of the Indians to Eliot while in England. His Translation of the Bible.
Purchase of a copy by tjje Town. Rev. Mr. Hunt's Address. Incidents in
the Life of Eliot. Anecdotes. Son settled at Newton.
CHAPTER III.
Natick Indians. Number at different periods. Oppression by the Whites. Eliot
Monument. Historical Items. Extracts from Records of Town. Biograph-
ical Notice of Dea. Ephraim, Sassamon, Takawampait, Waban. Anecdotes
of Indians. Bi-Centennial Celebration.
CHAPTER IV.
Act of Legislature erecting Natick into an English District. Early White Set-
tlers. Extracts from Records. Town Meetings. Resolution of the Town
on the Declaration of Independence. Muster Roll of the Natick Company
at Bunker Hill. Proprietors of Town in 1719, 1782 and in 1800.
CHAPTER V.
Ecclesiastical History. The "Praying Indians" at Natick. Indian Bible and
other Indian Translations by IMr. Eliot. Rev. Oliver Peabody and Organi-
zation of his Church. Pubhcations of Mr. Peabody. Biographical Notice
of Rev. Stephen Badger. Formation of his Church. Its Dissolution. Pub-
lications of Mr. Badger.
CHAPTER VI.
Controversy as to the Location of a Meeting-House. First Meeting-Housc. His-
tory of Society. Funds. Settlement of Rev. Freeman Sears. List of its
Ministers. List of persons who have held the office of Deacon. Biogi-aplii-
cal Notice of Mr. Sears. Fourth of July Celebration in 1809. ^Ir. Scars's
Oration. Sickness and Death.
CHAPTER VII.
Settlement of Rev. Martin Moore. Some account of his Ministry'. Dismission
Subsequent Life. His Published Works.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
Settlement of Rev. Erasmus D. Moore. Dismission. Notice of Rev. Samuel
Hunt. Chai-ge at his Ordination. Dismission. Settlement of Rev. Elias
Nason. His Publications.
CHAPTER IX.
Other Religious Societies, Second Congregational Church, Methodist Episco-
pal, Baptist, Universahst.
CHAPTER X.
Natural History. CHmate. Geology. Botany. Ponds, Rivers, Brooks, Fish.
CHAPTER XI.
Descriptive History, Boundaries, Roads, Raihoads, Post Offices, Public Build-
ings, Burying- Ground, Consecration of Dell Park Cemetery. Address of
Rev. Mr. Hunt.
CHAPTER XII.
Statistical History. Inhabitants of Natick. Population each decennial period
since 1790. Population in 1763, in 1776, in 1777. Valuation, Taxation,
Education, California Emigration.
CHAPTER XIII.
Official History. Town Officers. List of Select Men. Town Clerks. Repre-
sentatives. Attorneys at Law. Physicians.
CHAPTER XIV.
Biographical Notice of College Graduates and other individuals belonging to
Natick.
CHAPTER XV.
Employment of the People. Agriculture. Manufactvire of Shoes.
CHAPTER XVI.
Social History. Benevolent Societies. Charitable Association. Lyceums. Li-
braries. Natick Social Library. Rehgious Library. Sabbath School Libra-
ries. Temperance Society. Slavery.
APPENDIX.
Old and New Style. Practice of Double Dating. Biglow's Poetry. Picture
of Bunyan's Pilgrim. Manners and Customs of oiir Fathers. Description
of New England in 1629. Plants and Flowers in Natick. Formation of
Cherokee Alphabet. Indian Deeds and other Instruments. Accidents.
Suicides. Murders. Fires. Epitaphs on Grave Stones, Anecdotes. In-
teresting Localities in the vicinity of Natick.
HISTORY OF NATICK.
CHAPTER I.
General Description. Name and Signification. First Settlement.
Manner of obtaining Possession. Original Boundaries. Construc-
tion OF THE First Village.
Natick is situated in the south part of Middlesex County, on the
line of the Boston and Worcester Railroad, sixteen miles from the
former and twenty-four from the latter city. Cambridge Court-
House is sixteen miles to the east, and Concord twelve to the north
of it. By a survey for a map of Massachusetts, under the superin-
tendence of Simeon Borden, Esq., the latitude of the spire of the
Orthodox meeting-house is ascertained to be 42° 17' 63" .17. Its
longitude, 70'=' 21' 09" .45.
Like most of the towns of Massachusetts, it is very irregular in its
boundaries. Its lines seem more ambitious of reaching the tops of the
neighboring hills and the depths of the valleys, than of surrounding a
symmetrical territory. It has a triangular shape, lying between the
towns of Framingham and Needham on the west and east, Sher-
born and Wayland on the south and north ; Dover touches it at
the south-east, and Weston at the north-east corners. It has more
diversity of scenery in hills, valleys and plains, than most of the
surrounding country, as is apparent not only by its appearance from
commanding elevations, but by the name applied to it by the Indians,
" Natick, a Place of Hills." With unerring sagacity, the red man's
eye caught the distinguishing features of each place it rested on, of
each river by whose banks he roamed, and applied to it for a name
that word of his own language most descriptive of its peculiarities.
" Massachusetts — the Blue Hills ; " " Nonantum — Rejoicing," a hill
in Newton ; " Musketaquid" — Indian name of Concord, signifying
Grassy Brook. When we see its slow serpentine river, lying in the
lap of banks of the deepest verdure, we see how full of meaning is the
8 HISTORY OF NATICK.
name applied to it. "Connecticut — Long River;" " Scituate —
Cold Brook."
With how much propriety Natick was called " a Place of Hills,"
may be seen by a glance. In the south part of the town, Pegan
Hill, with verdure to its summit, and in a conical form, rises above all
other elevations and commands a view of sixteen villages, and of the
river, brooks, woods, and lands adjoining. To the north of this, on
each side of the south village and of Charles River, Perry's and
Carver's may be seen so near to the river that each may be said to
dip its foot in its waters as they glide along. Train's Hill, a mile to
the north of these ; Broad's Hill, one-half a mile to the north-west
of the last; Tom's Hill, so called from a celebrated Indian of that
name, located near the residence of Capt. William Stone ; with
Wachusett and Monadnock in the distance, and lesser eminences
interspersed, complete the list.
From the summit of these hills, which were alike features of the
ancient and modern town, may be seen the villages as they now
appear. Beside the features just mentioned, very little remains to
remind one of Natick, as described in ancient records and maps of
the town. Three villages contain the mass of the population of the
town : Natick Centre, containing two hundred and seventy-five
dwelling-houses, sixty-five shops of different dimensions, six stores,
one hotel, two apothecaries' shops, two markets, and four meeting-
houses ; South Natick, containing sixty-five dwelling-houses, one
hotel, two stores and one meeting-house ; Felchville village, to the
North of the centre, containing about fifty-five dwelling-houses, one
store and twenty shops.
The streets of the principal village have been laid out with a regard
too exclusively to private interest ; but the process of widening and
straightening is fast making amends for mistakes in the commence-
ment, and the purchase of a large plat of land, to be enclosed as a
public square, will, it is hoped, make the village worthy of the
beautiful scenery with which Nature has surrounded it. There are
about thirty streets, which have received names by which they are
now generally known, and young elms, which skirt the sides of most
of them, begin to add much to the beauty of the village, as well as
comfort of the traveller.
No other convenient opportunity will ofier in the course of this
history for describing three plains, in different sections of the town.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 9
Pegan, named for an Indian family, is the site of the village in the
centre of the town, contains about one square mile of territory, and is
divided nearly equally by the Boston and Worcester Railroad.
Eliot Plain, east of the south meeting-house, occupies about half the
space of Pegan, and was named for the Apostle to the Indians ;
Boden Plain, named for Wm. Boden, Esq., is about the size of
Pegan, and lies in the north-west corner of the town, between Lake
Cochituate and Framingham line.
1650, thirty years after the landing at Plymouth, is the year
that first brings Natick to our attention. Nonantum, the scene of
Eliot's first labors among the Indians, was too near the English, and
on other accounts unfavorable to the object in view, viz., civilizing
and Christianizing the aboriginal inhabitants of jMassachusetts. He
made several explorations through the forest, to find some suitable
place at which to establish an Indian church, but unsuccessfully,
until, when he had almost given up in despair, a place was mentioned
to him by the Indians every way suited to his wishes. It was South
Natick, the declivities of Perry's and Carver's hills. Mr. Eliot was
delighted with the discovery, and at his request six thousand acres
were granted, under the sanction of the General Court, by the town
of Dedham, to the praying Indians, they yielding therefor the town
of Doerfield.
In the year 1651, the town of Natick was settled. It consisted
of three long streets, two on the north and one on the south side of
the river, with a bridge eighty feet long and eight feet high, and
stone foundations, the whole being built by the Indians themselves.
To each house situated on these streets was attached a piece of
land. The houses were in the Indian style. One house, larger and
more commodious than the rest, was built in the English style.
One apartment of it was used as a school-room on weekdays, and
as a place of worship on the Sabbath. The upper room was a kind
of wardrobe, where the Indians hung up their skins and other valu-
ables. In the corner of this room Avas partitioned oft an apartment
for Mr. Eliot. This bliilding was the first meeting-house in Natick.
When the Indians were thus settled at Natick, they adopted, by
Mr. Eliot's advice, the civil polity of Moses, by appointing a ruler of
hundreds, two rulers of fifty, and ten rulers of tens.
The manner in which possession of the land was obtained for the
infant settlement is described in a document still extant and in Eliot's
10 HISTORY OF NATICK.
handwriting. It discovers in Eliot's mind the absence of the pre-
vaiUngidca at that time, that the proprietorship of the soil of America
vested in its enhghtened discoverers. The document referred to is
dated " 1651." " When," it sajs, " they had cast themselves into
a frame of government, as is written, then they considered how to
order the town of Natick ; and because all those lands, or a great part
of them, at least, which belonged to Natick, were the inheritance of
John Speen and his brethren and kindred, therefore we thought it
right that he and all his kindred should solemnly give up their
right therein before the Lord, and give the same unto the public
interest, right, and possession of the town of Natick. They were all
very wilhng so to do, and therefore on a lecture-day, solemnly and
publicly, before the Lord and all the people, John Speen and all his
kindred, friends and posterity, gave away all their right and
interest, w^hich they formerly had in the land in and about
Natick, unto the public interest of the town of Natick, that so the
* praying Indians ' might make a town, and they receive nothing to
themselves save interest in their wyers* which they had formerly put.
For lands, they would only take up lots, as others did, by the public
order and agreement of the town, and at the same time they received
a gratuity unto their good contentment."
Since the first grant of Natick to the praying Indians, the bounda-
ries have been subjected to various alterations, which will be fully
described in subsequent pages. Its original boundaries may be found
in the records of the General Court, and by determining the present
localities of its angles, as there laid out, a correct idea may be
received of its extent. A portion of territory, now lying between
Sherborn meeting-house and Natick line, was included in the grant.
It extended south, by Charles River, from where the line of Ded-
ham crossed the river, " as far as the house of Nicholas Wood, and
from thence upon a westerly line four miles, and westerly, the bounds
thereof to extend as far as Cochituate Brook, at the common passing-
place or highway that leadeth from Sudbury to John Stone's house ;
then by John Stone's land and Sudbury Iliver,''extending up this river
four miles, to be measured by a straight line from the said wading-
place on Cochituate Brook ; and from the said termination of this
line of four miles, to be bounded by a straight line extending to the
Wyers are a portion of the river or brook prepared as fishiiig-grounds.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 11
aforesaid termination of the line of four miles that leadeth West from
the aforesaid house of Nicholas Wood. All the land lying -within
the said compass adjoining to the bounds of Sudbury, Dedham and
Watertown, not formerly granted to any town or particular person,
to be for the use and behoof of the plantation of Natick."
The line of Dedham crossed the river a few miles above Sawin's
Brook, known formerly as Natick Brook. The house of Nicholas
Wood was a short distance to the north of this. John Jones's house
was en Sudbury Kiver, now within the limits of Wayland. Cochit-
uate Brook is the same as that which now enters the lake from the
west.
I have been thus particular, and perhaps uninteresting in my de-
scription of the embyro town, not on account of its intrinsic import-
ance only, but because the local features of a portion of country
are often considered tame or interesting, marked or blank, as they
are known to be within or without the boundary lines which enclose
the town we call our birth-place. Around that place cluster the
most hallowed associations, and no descriptions are regarded with so
much interest as those which bring to mind scenes most familiar to
us, among which our ancestors lived, and where we expect to repose
in that sleep which knows no waking.
CHAPTER II.
Sketch of the Life of Eliot. Birth. Coming to New England. Settled
AS Teacher at Roxbury, Journey in search of a place to locate an
Indian To^wn. Eliot at Natick. His care for the Indians. Petition
to the General Court in their behalf. Letter of the Indians to
Eliot while in London. His Translation of the Bible. Purchase
OP A copy by the Town. Pet. Mr. Hunt's Address. Incidents in the
Life of Eliot. Son settled at Newton.
John Eliot, thus brought to notice at the first settlement, and who
was for many years the guardian of the interest of the town, was
born in Nasing, Essex County, England, in 1604. He was educated
at Cambridge, and being subsequently persecuted for nonconformity,
so far even as not to be allowed to teach a school in his native
country, he at the age of twenty-seven came to America, landing at
Boston on the 3d of November, 1631. In the following year he
became pastor of a church in Roxbury. He was married in Octo-
ber, 1632, to a young lady to whom he was engaged previously to
his leaving England.
In the year 1646, the General Court of Massachusetts passed an
act, to encourage attempts to win over the natives to the faith of
Christ. Eliot entered heartily into the wishes of the Court, and
may almost be said to have devoted a life to carrying them out. He
entered on his labors as missionary to the Indians, in 1646, in
the forty-second* year of his age. In 1661, the New Testament in •
the Indian tongue was published. The first edition consisted of two
thousand copies, which was soon exhausted. A second edition of
the whole Bible followed in 1685, and he died in 1690, in the
eighty-seventh year of his age.
" Since the death of Paul," says Edward Everett in his address
at Bloody Brook, " a nobler, truer, and warmer spirit than John
Eliot never lived. And taking the "state of the country, the nar-
rowness of the means, the rudeness of the age, into consideration,
the history of the Christian church does not contain an example of
resolute, untiring successful labor, superior to that of translating the
entire Scriptures into the language of the native tribes of Massa-
HISTORY OF NATICK. 13
chusetts, — a labor perforaied not in the flush of youth, nor ■within the
luxurious abodes of academic lore, but under the constant burden of
his labors as a minister and a preacher, and at a time of life when
the sjDirits begin to flag."
Such is the judgment of one of the first scholars and most dis-
cerning men of our own age, of the "Apostle to the Indians," the
founder and father of Natick.
It would be gratifying, if it were possible, to trace the course
of Eliot's journey in search of a proper locality for his Indian plan-
tation ; to see him visit this and that place then in the unbroken forest,
but now the site of prosperous towns and villages. Why did his
Indian guides direct him to Natick ? And why was he satisfied -with
its hills, forests and rivers ? But v.'C have to do with fact, not fancy.
We know he chose it above all others, and we see him oftentimes on
the ground, teaching, preaching, instructing in agriculture and in the
construction of houses.
The anxious soHcitude of Eliot for his Indians will be seen in
many places during the progress of this history. We shall see him,
when more than seventy years of age, meeting the Indians when all
others had proved treacherous, and consoling them in captivity.
We shall see him, when others doubted their fidelity, ever confident
and endeavoring to confirm others in their favor.
Two petitions in behalf of the Indians are still extant, and in
Eliot's handwriting. It is a petition to the General Court, setting
forth the grievances of the Indians, and asking redress, dated 1669,
and styled, " The humble petition of John Eliot, in bahalf of the
poor Indians at Natick. Showeth, That whereas, this honored
Court did appoint a committee to fix a line betwixt Dedham and
Natick, bounding on each other, viz. : the worshipful Mr. Ting and
Jackson, Dea. Park, and Lieut. Cook, of Boston, who took pains in
it, and the record of their determination is accepted and put into
Court records : nevertheless some of Dedham do invade our line ;
upon one side, they forbid the Indians to plant, take away their rails
which they have prepared to fence their grounds, and on another
side have taken away their lands and sold ym to others, to the
trouble and wonderment of the Indians. These are humbly to
request this honored Court to empower the same worshipful commit-
tee, and request you once more to take pains and go to the place wt
ye have already done, and request our bretliren of Dedham to be
14 HISTORY OF NATICK.
quiet and let us peaceably enjoy our own. So committing this
honored Court unto the Lord and to the word of his grace, I remain
your humble petitioner, John Eliot.
»>
Another petition of Eliot's is extant in his own handwriting, and
dated August 14, 1669. The following is a copy :
" To the honored General Court.
The humble petition of John Eliot in behalf of the poor Indians
of Natick and Magwoukommok this 14th day of the 8th, '69.
Showeth, That whereas, in the records of the bounds of Natick
there is liberty given to seek out elsewhere ninety acres of meadow,
and the Court will grant the same, and seeing there is no such meadow
to be found, and of late the Jndians have learned to make cedar
shingles and clapboards, unto which work in moyling in the swamps,
(to which work) ye are fitter than many English, and many English
choose rather to buy ym of the Indians yn make ym themselves, —
these are therefore humbly to request that their grant of meadow may
be turned into ungranted cedar swamps, one by the way towards
Mendon and others towards Nipmuck.
Furthermore, whereas a company of new praying Indians are set
down in the western corner of Natick bounds, called Magwoukkom-
mok, who have called one to rule and another to teach ym, of whom
the latter is of the church, the former ready to be joined, and there
is not fit land for planting towards Natick, but westward there is,
though very rocky, — these arc humbly to request that fit accom-
modation may be allowed ym westward. And thus committing this
honorable Court unto the Lord, I rest.
Your humble petitioner,
John Eliot."
That the regard of Ehot to the Indians was appreciated and recip-
rocated, is discoverable in the written accounts he has given us of
his visits to Natick, as well as in other passages of his writings.
Prof. Calvin E. Stowe, a native of Natick, while in London, discov-
ered in the archives of one of the oldest Congregational churches
in the world, — the same to which Jacobs and Lathrop minis-
tered, — a letter from the Natick Indians to Eliot. He obtained a
fac simile of it, and has kindly tendered it for publication in its appro-
priate place, a history of Natick. It is dated 19th March, 1693,
HISTORY OF NATICK. 15
and labelled, " For our worthy and good friend Mr. John Eliot, the
Reverend Teacher of the Church at Roxbury, in New England. "
The following is a copy of it : —
" Worth?/ and Reverend Mr. Eliot : — God has made you to us
and our nation a spiritual father. We are inexpressibly engaged to
you for your faithful, constant, indefatigable labors, care, and love
to and for us, and you have always manifested the same to us as
well in our adversity as prosperity for about forty years, making
known to us the Glad Tidings of Salvation by Jesus Christ, for which
we desire to give you our hearty thanks ; and whereas you are now
grown aged, for that we are deprived of seeing your face and hear-
ing your voice (especially in the winter season) so frequently as for-
merly, we presume to make this our address to you, touching a
matter wherein we were aided by your counsel and encouragement
formerly. Sir, you know that the church and people of Natick
about two years and a half since made their application, and gave a
call, by a general vote, to ye Rev'd Mr. Gookin, minister of Sher-
born, (a village in the vicinity or neighborhood to us) that he would
please to preach a Lecture to us at Natick ; which invitation of ours
God inclined his heart to accept, and he hath attended it about two
years and a half, and we hope not without comfort and benefit to
some poor souls, through the Grace of God. 'T is true he preacheth
to us in the English tongue, which all do not fully understand, but
some learn a little, and desire to know more of it; but there being a
Avell-spoken and intelligent interpreter of our countrymen, who, being
the day before instructed and informed by Mr. Gookin in the matter
to be delivered, is prompt and ready to interpret and communicate to
us in our own language, Avhich practice, as we understand, is approved
in Scripture in the primitive times, as in 1 Cor. 14 : 27, 28, that if
one speak in an unknown tongue another should interpret. Unto
this lecture many English men and women of the neighborhood do
resort, who, by their example and communion with us in the worship
of God, it tendeth (as is evident) to promote not only religion, but
civility amongst us. Therefore, dear sir, our humble request unto
you is, that you will improve your best interest with and in the
Right rion'blc ye Gov. & Corporation for Propagating the Gospel in
America, residing at London, that they would please to write
effectually unto their Commissioners in New England, to incourage
16 HISTORY OF NATICK.
this our worthy minister, Mr. Gookin, to persevere in his labors
among us. We understand he meets with some discouragement,
and the reason whereof is because he does not yet preach in the
Indian language, which probably in a little more time afterward he
will obtain ; but Ave incline to believe that ye way whom he now
exercises may and will promote the work as much, because now the
English Christians are present and communicate with us in God's
worship, which puts a great lustre and beauty on our meeting and
tendeth to Instruct us (especially young ones,) to learn the English
language, and to carry it with a more grave deportment, in ye holy
worship of God, for you know our great poverty, especially since the
wars, that we are not able to give Mr. Gookin encouragement by any
allowance yearly, and as we heard the commissioners allow him but
10 lb. ye annum. But we hope ye most Noble, pious and worthy
patriots in England, of whose goodness and beneficence we have
often tasted, and which with all thankfulness, both to God and men
we acknowledge, will incourage the work as well as others, which we
believe will not be the least means to propagate religion and civility
among the Indians. So with our humble duty and service pre-
sented, we remain,
Your most loving and assured friends,
Old Waban, his mark, +. John Magoom,
Daniel Takawampait. Thomas Tray, his mark, +.
Nataniel. Nemiah, his mark, +.
Old Mounout, his mark, ■{ . John Moqdnk, his mark, -{-.
Old Nossounomus, his mark, +• Old Jethro, his mark, +.
Weld AN Huhateu. Old Maquin, his mark, S-
John Awagguin, his mark, +. Jamo.
Simon Betaghoun. Thomas Waban.
Natick, March 19, 1683-4. "
We need not apologize to our readers for the insertion of the
above. It conveys at once the true idea of the Indian meetings,
and their own feelings towards Mr. Eliot and his associates. It
draws a picture more vividly than could be done in any other way, of
the extent of the early efforts to convert the Indians, and the manner
in which they were applied to their object.
The most interesting relic of aboriginal America in town is a copy
of Eliot's Bible in the Indian language. Many interesting associa-
HISTORY OF NATICK. 17
tions cluster around this relic of the past. A few copies of it only
are now extant : one in the college library at Cambridge, and one
in the Mission house in Boston, are all known to the author. Some
public-spirited individuals purchased this copy from the library of
Hon. John Pickering ; and the ceremony of its presentation to the
town took place in the Town Hall on the two hundredth anniversary
of Eliot's first visit to the Indians at Nonantum, Oct. 28, 1846, the
nominal not the actual day. The hall was crowded with the inhabi-
tants of the town, and the only lineal descendant of the Natick
tribe, a girl about sixteen years of age, occupied a central seat at the*
table, and was the chief object of attention during the evening.
Eev. Samuel Hunt, pastor of the First Congregational Church, pre-
sided at the meeting, and commenced the exercises with the following
address :
'•''Ladies and G-entlemen : — That this is an occasion of more than
ordinary interest I need not assert. The evidence is here, in the
numbers which have come up to this place, notwithstanding the unfa-
vorableness of the weather, to participate in the enjoyment of this
social gathering ; in this venerable volume, around which cluster the
associations of an age without a parallel in the history of the world,
for the depth and spirituality of its piety, the earnestness of its
high endeavor, and its heroic daring and fortitude in the cause of
humanity and truth ; in the object before us, the procurement of this
Bible to be deposited in the archives of the town, not only as a relic
of former days, but as a link binding the future to the past.
And yet I am by no means unaware that there are those wdio do
not appreciate this interest, nor sympathize in the feelings that have
brought us together. I know there are not wanting those who will
inquire, ' Of what use is all this expenditure of time, money, and
labor ? Of what value even is the volume itself which we propose
to procure ? It is not only written in a language which we do not
understand, but in the barbarous dialect of a tongue that is never to
be spoken again ; of a people which has already ceased to exist,
except this one poor Indian girl, the orphan daughter of a
departed race, reminding us most impressively by her presence of
the dead that are gone and the people that are never to return.'
True, the Bible wo have purchased is written in the language of a
race which has melted away before the advancing light and warmth
2
18 HISTORY OF NATICK.
of civilization, as the sno-w before the ascending sun. Its term-
inology is indeed barbarous and uncouth. Its -words are long
and unpronounceable. And yet is it so certain it -will prove a useless
possession ? Can you conceive of no advantages connected with this
dark and antique volume as it is lodged with the papers of the town ?
Is there nothing in the hallowed associations that linger around its
venerable form, that is calculated to make us better ? Is there no
elocjuence even in its mute but expressive silence, that shall make us
wiser in the stern but useful lessons of truth, piety, and an earnest
► self-sacrifice for the good of men ? Have we become so brutal, so
under the control of our mere animal instincts, that we can attach no
value to anything except as it shall supply our physical necessities,
and gratify our pride, our love of pleasure, or our desire of wealth ?
Can we be moved by nothing but what is material ?
' Far be from me and my friends, ' says the great English
moralist, ' such cold and frigid philosophy as may conduct us
unmoved and indifferent over any field that may have been dignified by
wisdom, patriotism and valor. That man is little to be envied, whose
patriotism would not gather force on the plains of Marathon, or
whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of lona.'
Nor has such frigid philosophy prevailed to any great extent among
men, even in the most barbarous periods of the world's history.
It has ever been understood that men have sympathies, that they
are susceptible to emotion, and that they can be most deeply affected
by well-directed appeals to their sensibilities. Even the savage trusts
not alone to his mere brute force, his power of endurance and his
wondrous skill in the arts of the war. He knows that, however well
endowed in these respects, there needs to be the energy of feeling
to give them greater eflBciency. lie would have the passions
aroused ; and the terrible warwhoop, as it rings through the forest,
stirs up his dark and bloody nature, and nerves his arm with greater
strength in his fearful work of death.
You remember that when Lord Nelson had arranged his ships in
line of battle at Trafalgar, and all was in readiness for the dreadful
onset, he ran up that signal which all could see, and which will never
be forgotten, ' England expects every man to do his duty.' That
silent appeal to his patriotism waked up the energies of every man, and
gave England one of her greatest victories.
Peter the Hermit, even amid the darkness of the Middle Ages, by
HISTORY OF NATICK. 19
a well-clireeted appeal to the enthusiasm of the masses, kindled|a
flame that almost depopulated Europe in their burning desire to
rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the Infidels.
And shall Christians, we who live in the nineteenth century in the
heart of New England, almost within sight of Plymouth rock, and
almost within hearing of the surges that mingled their voices with
the prayers and praises of the Pilgrims themselves, — shall we show
ourselves more brutal in our feelings, and more destitute of sensibiUty ?
Shall we who dwell among the scenes consecrated by the toils, the
prayers, and the faith of Eliot, — who live on the very hills and
plains, and by the sides of the beautiful streams and lakes where
dwelt his rude but " praying Indians," — shall we sit down and
coolly calculate in dollars and cents, the value of this volume on
which he spent so many dark years of discouragement and toil ?
Have we no philanthropy to gather force and piety, to grow
warmer as our eyes gaze upon this relic of a former age ? I trust
we have. And let us take this volume which a kind Providence has
placed within our reach, and while we would not look upon it with
any superstitious veneration, let us regard it as it is, an imperishable
record of the good attempted by man for man, a precious Avitness
that while our fathers were laying the foundation for their own civil
and religious welfare, they did not forget the poor Indian in his dark-
ness and sorrow. And more than this, while we thus express our
grateful remembrance of their ancestral virtues, let us strive to
emulate, and by their good deeds and self-denying sacrifices for the
good of man, make apparent that we are most worthy descendants
of those we now delight to honor. The tribe of Natick is indeed
extinct, but there are other Indians within our borders, there are
other pagans for whom we should care. For their good let us labor,
and stimulated by so noble an example in their behalf, let us, like
Eliot, be willing to endure hardship as good soldiers of the cross."
Two incidents in the life of Eliot in this connection will occupy all
the space we can allow to a description of his efforts.
In 1G61 he completed his translation of the New Testament, and
presented it to his Indians.
Let us take the Bible now in the archives of the town, go and
stand by the banks of the Charles, clear them in imagination of the
houses, shops and mills ; trace, instead of the wide gravelled roads, the
20 HISTORY OF NATICK.
three long narrow streets of the ancient town ; let the bittern rise
again from her invaded haunt, the tortoise slide sidelong from the log
on which he was sunning himself. Amid all this stillness of Nature
see Eliot place in the hands of an Indian boy the Testament, and
watch the varying emotions which beam across his face, as the tones
of the young savage's voice, playing with the rugged words of the
unpronounceable language, strike his ear. Such is not an imaginary
scene, and such emotions were EUot's only reward for his disinterested
exertions.
Eliot, after learning the Indian language, lectured in Indian to an
audience at Cambridge at the annual meeting of the Synod. A
large assemblage of Indians came to hear him. They gave strict
attention to the word, and propounded various questions. Many at
that time were added to his praying Indians.
An anecdote is told, illustrative of the benevolence of Eliot's
character and of his care for the poor:
So great was his charity that his salary was often distributed for the
relief of his needy neighbors so soon after the period at which he
received it, that before another period arrived his own family were
straitened for the comforts of life. One day the parish treasurer, on
paying him the m.oney for salary due, which he put into a handker-
chief, in order to prevent Mr. E. from giving away his money before
he got home, tied the ends of the handkerchief into as many hard
knots as he could. The good man received his handkerchief and
took leave of the treasurer. He immediately went to the house of a
sick and necessitous family. On entering he gave them his blessing,
and told them God had sent them some relief. The sufferers with
tears of gratitude welcomed their benefactor, who with moistened
eyes began to untie the knots in his handkerchief. After many
efforts to get at his money, and impatient at the delay and perplexity,
he threw the handkerchief, money and all, into the lap of the mother,
saying he believed the Lord meant they should have the whole of it.
A son of Eliot was the first minister of Newton ; his abilities and
occupation in the ministry are said to be preeminent. Under the
direction of his father he obtained considerable proficiency in the
Indian language, and was an assistant to him as a missionary until
he settled at Newton.
CHAPTEH III.
Natick Ixdiaxs. Numbeb at Dipferext Periods. ~ Oppression by the
Whites. Eliot Monument. Historical Items. Extracts erom Hec-
ORDS of the Town. Dea. Ephraim, Sassamon, Takawampait, Waban.
Anecdotes of Indians. Bi-Centennial Celebration.
There was, as is very well known, never any separate tribe called
the Natick Indians, or the Naticks. They were mostly of the
Massachusetts tribe, and resided in diflferent parts of Natick and
Sherborn, on the borders of Farm Pond, in Concord, and at Nonan-
tum ; and the settlement at Natick was caused by their desire to
hear the the Gospel and cultivate their lands undisturbed by the
English. They had no tools or skill, no fences to their grounds, and
their corn was spoiled by the English cattle ; and the English refused
to pay for it because their lands were unfenced.
It was necessary for them therefore to be in a settlement by
themselves, and for that purpose Natick was chosen, as well as for the
purpose of establishing a church as before described.
Thu3 assembled at Natick, they were, at different periods of their
history, comparatively numerous.
AVe have it from tradition, that about the year 1700, three
hundred. Indians paraded near the present site of the Town Hall,
at an Indian training. In 1677, two hundred of the Natick war-
riors were sent with a party of English to fight the Indians at
the eastward. In the year 1753 there were at Natick twenty-five
families, besides several individuals. In 1678 there were two hundred
and twelve praying Indians at Natick. From 1754 to 1760 many
of them were in the military service. While at the Lakes they
caught a mortal disease, of which many of them died ; in one year
(1759) no less than twenty-three. In the year 1763, according to
the census then taken, there were thirty-seven only in town (wander-
ing Indians not included.) In 1792 the Indians of Natick were
reduced to one family of five persons.
There is now (1855) only one descendant of the Indians left in
Natick.
22 HISTORY OF NATICK.
" Alas ! for them, their day is o'er ;
Their fires are out on hill and shore ;
For them no more the ■wild deer boiinds,
The plough is on theii' hunting giounds ;
The pale man's axe rings through their woods,
The pale man's bark skims o'er their floods,
Their pleasant springs are diy."
The two events which contributed more than all others to destroy
the good understanding existing between the English and Indians at
Natick, and to hasten their extinction as a praying town, were King
Philip's war and the death of Eliot.
No combination of Indians so powerful, and apparently so resolved
on extermination of the whites, had ever before been effected. The
Pequods had been suppressed, and from that time New England had
been free from the fear of the hatchet and the tomahawk. The fear
of surprise and massacre was such, that it was seriously proposed in
General Court to build a wall eight feet high, to extend the whole
distance from the Charles River to Concord, for the protection of
Middlesex and Essex Counties, that the people might be securely
" environed from the rage and fury of the savages." It is no wonder
that at the first breaking out of this war the praying Indians should
be looked upon with distrust ; but the harsh measures adopted can
hardly be justified.
Representations were soon made to the Governor that the " pray-
ing Indians " of Natick and Marlborough were treacherously dis-
posed, and a force was despatched to convey them to Boston. The
company, under the command of Captain Moosely, reached Marl-
borough in the night, and early in the morning, before the Indians
had any suspicion of their design, surrounded their fort, seized on
their arms, and obliged them to surrender. They made no resist-
ance, were taken into the custody of the soldiers, their hands tied
behind them, and connected by a cart rope, were driven down to
Boston, in company of the Indians of Natick, thence hurried down to
Deer Island. Mr. Eliot, then over seventy years of age, met them
at " The Pines," * and endeavored to console them. The founda-
tion of this harsh treatment was the conduct of the Springfield
Indians, in the destruction of Westfield, Hadley, and other places,
in 1675.
* The Pines were near where the U. S. Arsenal is situated in Watertown.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 23
The property still remaining, which belongs to the Indians of Natick,
is in the hands of a guardian appointed by the State, as is all other
property belonging to Indians in Massachusetts. The grovelling Dutch-
man and half besotted Irish can control his own, under the protection of
law ; the crushed and broken-hearted red man is disfranchised, and
his existence ignored by his conqueror and lord.
We gaze on the grave-stone of Takawampait, on the implements
they have left behind, the arrov/, the pestle and the hatchet, while
the time-worn volume lies unread in the archives of the town.
Sometimes —
"In the gay and noisy street
Of the great village which tisru-ps the place
Of the small Indian hamlet, we may see
Some miserable relic of that race,
Whose sorely tarnished fortunes have been told.
Yet how debased and fallen ! In his eye
The flame of noble daring is gone out,
And his brave face has lost its martial look.
His eye rests on the earth as if the grave
Were his sole hope, his last and only home.
A poor thin garb is -wi-apt about his frame.
Whose sorry phght but mocks his ancient state.
And in the bleak and pitiless storm he walks,
With melancholy brow, and shivers as he goes.
His piide is dead, his courage is no more,
His name is but a by- word. All the tribes
Who called these plains and hills their own
Ai-e homeless, friendless wanderers o'er earth."
One still more enduring memento of Eliot and his " praying In
dians " exists. Near, if not on the site of the Indian town, a neat and
durable monument to the Indian Apostle has been reared. On one
side, his name and age and the date of his decease ; on the other, his
Indian Bible, open and bearing the inscription " Up Biblume God,"
the Book of God.
For a history of Natick prior to 1762, the date at which it was
erected into an English district, we are dependent on tradition and on
detached leaves in possession of the town clerk-
From 1651 to 1762, more than a century, it was an Indian
town ; and its history is little more than a picture of wild Indians
making unsuccessful attempts to clothe themselves in the robes of
civilization.
24 HISTORY OF NATICK.
That the form of pjovernment adopted bj Eliot's advice at the
commencement continued for a long period, is probable, not only
because Eliot, continuing to interest himself in the -n-elfare of the
town, and leaving many documents in his own handwriting, never
mentioned any alteration, but from the fact that it is 1716,
over fifty years latsr, before we learn of their having a munici-
pal organization like other towns.
What were the results ? and what was the success of the efforts of
Eliot and his coadjutors ? are interesting questions, and those which
we have some means of settling.
They threaded their way through the forest to this lani of streams,
hills, and plains, and soon " the desert smiles." Discouragement and
uncertainty attend their steps. Water from the spring is their bev-
erage ; fish, and such game as the woods furnish, their means of subsis-
tence. By " moyling" in the forest, with the broad arch of heaven
for shelter, and protected from savage foes around only by their fire-
locks and their trust in God, they succeed in opening, here and there,
small clearings to the sun. Patches of beans and turnips, with corn
and rye interspersed, begin yearly to appear. A few domestic ani-
mals may be seen browsing around their huts. A house for public
worship stood in the midst of the little plantation. They had no
mill to grind their corn, no artisans to minister to the necessities or
comfort of the settlers, and no physicians to afford aid in cases of
sickness. But each little tenement was a temple, from which, morn-
ing and evening, the devout and simple worship of the savage ascend-
ed, and the Sabbath, which has been less rigidly kept by other in-
habitants of the town since then, was to them a day of peaceful rest,
undisturbed by the clatter of bells or the exhibitions of pride and
vanity.
We have gleaned some items of interest relating to Natick, during
this period, from the collections of the Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety, and know no better way to give them to our readers than in
chronological order.
1671, Aug. 1. Two natives, named Anthony and William, were sent
by the " poor church of Natick " with written instructions, signed
John Eliot, with the consent of church, to the Missoghounog Indians,
and to the English of Aquidnick and Plymouth, for the purpose of
preventing a war between those Indians and the English.
1674. Gookin, General Superintendent of the Indians of Mas.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 25
sachusetts sent Jetliro of Natick, in September of this year, to
Nashua, (Lancaster,) to preach to his countrymen, whom Eliot had
never visited. Jethro was one of the most distinguished of the convert-
ed Indians. One of the tribe happened to be present at the Court,
and declared that he was desirously willing, as well as some others of
his people, to pray to God, but that there were sundry of that peo-
ple very wicked, and much addicted to drunkenness, and thereby
many disorders were committed amongst them, and he entreated
Gookin to put forth his power to suppress this vice. He was asked
whether he would take upon himself the office of constable, and re-
ceive power to apprehend drunkards, and bring the delinquents
before the Court to receive punishment. He answered that he would
speak with his friends, and if they chose him and strengthened his
hands in the work, he would come for a black staif and power. It
is not known that Jethro's exhortations produced any effect. — (Wil-
lard's History of Lancaster.)
In 1677, 2 month, 13 day. Assembled to prepare for an ex-
change of lands between Natick and Sherborn as in our judgment
has been rendered at the Court, by Mr. Eliot and Major Gookin.
It was then voted and concluded that propositions should be made
to Major Gookin and Mr. Eliot, and to the Indians, in referring to the
exchange of lands between Natick and Sherborn, as to give fifty
pounds in current pay and as much land as a committee by the Gen-
eral Court shall think meet.
In 1684 the Indians of Natick and Wamusit, (now part of Tewks-
bury,) who belonged to the same tribe with the Mai-lborough Indians,
laid claim to a right in the soil of that town, which had been culti-
vated by the English nearly thirty years.
The town paid them thirty-one pounds for a de£d in full, which
was signed by twenty-six Indians, beside two witnesses of the same
nation. Six of these wrote their names, the rest made their marks.
— (Allen's History of Northborough.)
In 1679, the inhabitants of Sherborn exchanged with Natick four
thousand acres of land, more or less, giving two hundred bushels of
Indian corn to boot.
There was also to be a lot of fifty acres set out where the commis-
sioners of ye colonies. Major Gookin and Mr. Eliot and Indian
rulers shall choose, within that tract of land which Sherborn was to
have of Natick, to be appropriated forever to the use of a free school
26 HISTORY OF NATICK.
for teaching the English and the Indian children the English Ian
guage and other sciences. (Signed,) --
Daniel Gookin, Waban, (Mark.)
Nathaniel Gookin, Pimbow, (Mark.)
Edward West, John Aavousumug.
Daniel Morse, Peter Ephraim.
Thomas Eams, Daniel. (Takawampait,
Henry Leland, probably.)
Obadiah Morse.
In 1685, we find an account of a visit to Natick bj John Dunton,
a London bookseller, who was visiting Boston on business. After
visiting ]Mr. Eliot at Roxbury, who presented him with twelve Indian
Bibles, he says : " On my return I found several of my friends
making ready for a journey to Natick. I was glad of an opportunity
to acquaint myself with the manners, religion, and government of
the Indians. When we were setting forward I was obliged, out of
civility and gratitude to take Madam Rich behind me on horseback.
True, she was the flower of Boston, but in this case proved no more
than a beautiful sort of luggage to me."
In 1693, Cotton, in his Magnalia, Vol. 2, page 282, speaks thus
of Natick. " The Indian church at Natick (which was the first
Indian church in America,) is, since blessed Eliot's death, much
diminished and dwindled away. But Mr. Daniel Gookin has bestowed
his pious care upon it."
In 1679, the Indians making daily inroads on the weak and un-
fenced places (in Maine,) the Governor and Council resolved to raise
new forces ; and, having had good experience of the faithfulness and
valor of the Christian Indians about Natick, armed two hundred of
them, and sent them, together with forty Enghsh, to prosecute the
quarrel with the Eastern Indians to the full. — (Hubbard History.)
In 1698, Grindal Rawson and Samuel Danforth spent from May
30th to June 24th in visiting the several plantations of Indians in
Massachusetts. The following is their report respecting the Indians
at Natick.
" At Natick we find a small church consisting of seven men and three
women. Their pastor (ordained by that reverend and holy man of
God, John Eliot, deceased,) is Daniel Tahawampait, and is a person
HISTORY 01" NATICK. 27
of good knowledge. Here are fifty -nine men, and fifty-one women,
and seventy children under sixteen years of age. "VVe find no school-
master here, and only one child that can read.
Grindal Eawson,
Boston, July 12, 1698. Samuel Danforth."
In 1762 Natick was erected into an English district or precinct,
by an act of the General Court. In this act the English inhabitants
only were included, the Indians being under guardianship. From
this time the records have been kept with a good degree of accuracy.
Prior to this date we find the following votes on the Proprietors' book.
1731-2. Eben Felch receipts for four pounds for keeping school
in Natick.
1737, September 19. Voted to make sale of one hundred and fifty
pounds' worth of common lands ; the income and yearly interest to
be towards the maintenance of a school in Natick.
1752, March 30. Voted to dismiss Frances FuUam, Esq., (who
desired to be dismissed,) and chose Jonathan Richardson in his room,
to procure their rent money of their Magunquog lands and pay it to
each proprietor according to his proportion.
1754, March 12. Voted to sell so much of our common and indi-
vidual lands as will be sufficient to raise money to pay for a lot of land
which we have engaged to procure for our Reverend Minister (Mr.
Badger,) and chose Deacon Ephraim, John Ephraim, Benj. Tray,
a committee to execute legal deeds of the same in behalf of the pro-
prietors. Eighty-three acres were sold agreeably to this vote. Voted
to dispose of the old meeting-house, and what may be serviceable in
the new meeting-house may be used therefor, and the value set to the
Indians' account, and the remainder part of the old-meeting house to
be sold by committee that arc chosen to lay out their common lands,
and to be divided amongst the proprietors, and that said committee,
together with the Indian guardian, be judges of the equivalent.
Oct. 2, 1758. Voted to fence the English burying-grounds.
Oct. 1, 1746. Voted not to have a school this year. Granted
<£85 to buy ammunition for a parish stock. Granted in 1748, <£40,
old tenor, to be laid out in a reading and writing school.
1749-50, Jan. 5th. Voted to accept Mr. Oliver Peabody as
the parish minister, and grant him X300, old tenor, yearly salary,
upon condition he will come to the centre of the parish to preach.
28 HISTORY OF NATICK,
This vote indicates the existence of a difference of opinion as to
the proper place to locate a meeting-house, a difference which from
other sources we know actually existed, and divided the town into
two hostile sections during the whole of Mr. Badger's and a part of
Mr. Peabody's ministry.
The controversy terminated at last in the building of a meeting-
house in the centre of the town. The large building standing on
Summer street, and occupied as a shoe manufactory by Mr. Henry
Morse, was the first meeting-house in the centre of the town.
The zeal of the fathers of the town in religious matters, and the
desire to be accommodated with Gospel preaching, are shown by the
history of this controversy, extending through fifty years of the his-
tory of the town. The sensitiveness of all classes during that
period, on religious matters, is illustrated by a fact stated by Neal,
in his " History of New England," that the soldiers composing the
army sent against the Pequods, had to stop in the wilderness and
settle the question, whether they were under a covenant of works
or a covenant of grace, before they could proceed.
There were many individuals of marked character among the
Indians at Natick. The names of Mattocks, Pegan, Boston,
Waban, are familiar as household words to the descendants of the
first white settlers.
"Waban, the name signifying in the Indian language " the Wind,"
was one of the most distinguished of the " praying Indians." He
was one of the rulers of fifties, first chosen by the Indians, after-
wards a constable, in which capacity many ludicrous anecdotes are
told of him. He was at first an Indian merchant at Nonantum ;
aftewards removed to Natick and became one of Ehot's most efficient
supporters. At his death he expressed an animated joy in the hope
of heaven, where he should unite with the souls of departed be-
lievers.
His last words were, " I give my soul to thee, my Bedeemer
Jesus Christ ! pardon all my sins, and deliver me from hell. Help
me against death, and then I am willing to die ; and when I die, oh
help me and reUeve me."
Dea. Ephraim, the first person who held the office of Deacon in this
place, was another Indian of whom we often hear anecdotes. Kev.
Mr. Badger says of him, that " he was a worthy Indian of good
HISTORY OF NATICK. 29
understanding, and from the first of his making a Christian profes-
sion, an example of seriousness, temperance, and regular conversa-
tion, a constant attendant on the institutions of religion." On being
.asked why so many Indian young men, while in English families,
although they had free access to liquor, remained steady and exem-
plary, but as soon as they joined the Indians again became dissi-
pated and idle, he made the laconic reply, " Ducks will be ducks,
although they are hatched by a hen ; " in broken English, " Tucks
will be tucks, although old hen he hatch um."
Daniel Takawampait : The grave-stone of this successor of Ehot
is in the wall in front of the south meeting-house. The grandfather
of the author of this work, (Capt. David Bacon,) had in his posses-
sion a short time previous to his death, a deed, dated April 8, 1692,
by which this Indian minister conveyed to John Sawin a piece of
meadow land. This deed may now be seen at the rooms of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society. The name is there spelled Takawompbait.
An amusing anecdote is told of an Indian who went to Boston from
Natick in the fall of the year with a back-load of brooms and
baskets, and, as was his custom, called into a store and purchased a
dram, paid the price and departed. The next spring, on a similar
errand, he called at the same store, drank the same quantity of
liquor, and was charged double the price, the reason being given
that it took as much to keep it as to keep a horse. " Hah ! " said
the Indian, " he no eat as much hay, but he drink as much water."
But the Indian of Natick who lived the most eventful life, and
whose history is the most romantic, was John Sassamon. He was a
subject of King Philip, became a convert to Christianity, learned
the language of the English, was able to read and write, and trans-
lated some of the Bible into Indian. He was employed by Eliot as
a schoolmaster to his countrymen at Natick. This must have been
about the year 1660, as he was Philip's secretary and instructor in
1662, and this was subsequent to his becoming a Christian. He
soon became offended with the English, and went to reside with
Alexander, Chief of the Narragansetts, and afterwards with Philip,
who employed him on account of his learning. Sassamon, however,
soon left Philip and returned to the English, at which time Cotton
Mather says of him, that " he manifested such evident signs of
repentance, as that he was, after the return from pagan Philip,
reconciled to the ' praying Indians,' baptized and received as a
30 HISTORY OF NATICK.
member of one of the Indian churches, yea, and employed as in-
structor amongst them every Lord's day." In 1673 Sassamon was
sent to preach to the Namaskets. The chief of that tribe, Watas-
paguin, in order to encourage the new rehgion, gave Sassamon a
tract of land, the deed of which is now extant. It is in the follow-
ing form and words.
" Know all men by their presents, that I, old Wataspaguin, doe
grant unto John Sassamon, alias Wassasoman, twenty-seven acres of
land for a house lott at Assawomset necke. This is my gift given to
him the said John Sassamon, by me the said Wataspaguin in Anno,
1673. [1674 if between 1st of January and 25th of March.]
Old Wataspaguin, (O^ his mark.
Willum Taspaguin D V his mark.
Witness alsoe Naneheunt, -1- his mark."
An Indian of the Narragansetts had married Sassamon's daughter,
and as soon as Sassamon detected Philip's determination to wage a war
of extermination, he made a will, giving his land to his son-in-law.
There are many deeds and treaties of King Philip's on which the
name of Sassamon is inscribed as witness. When Sassamon de-
tected Philip's intentions, he went to Plymouth and discovered the
design to the English. This proceeding having come to the ears of
Philip, Sassamon was considered an outlaw, and his murder soon
after the legitimate result of his friendship for the English.
Early in the spring of 1675, Sassamon was missing, and on search
being made his body was found in Assawomset Pond. Those who
killed him, not caring to be known to the English, left his hat and
gun upon the ice, that it might be supposed he had drowned himself.
Four persons were suspected of the murder ; tried at Plymouth
by a jury one half English and one half Indian. They were all of
them executed, one confessing the murder, the others protesting
their innocence.
We have thus run through the early history of Natick, giving the
incidents of interest which occurred, and a sketch of the lives of
those who took a prominent part in them. And while the mournful
impression urges itself upon us, that the race is extinct, and that all
our efforts can do but little in perpetuating their memory, we console
ourselves with the reflection that the natural features of the town
HISTORY OF NATICK. 31
and State arc monuments which ■will bear their names to the latest
generation. Pegan, Old Massachusetts, Natick, Puncatasket, and
Wachusett, will cease to be spoken of before the remembrance of
those who gave them their names shall die out.
The year has just elapsed which brought about the two hundredth
anniversary of the settlement of Natick.
Two hundred years had rolled away since John Eliot had selected
Natick as tlie site of his Indian town. Its boundary lines had
become established. Adjoining towns had contributed their territory,
their population, and their example, until the child had outgrown in
size the parents. Instead of the dark forest which then excluded even
the summer's sun, rich fields of waving grain decked the surface of
the soil in every direction. The wigwams and rude houses of the
first settlers had given place to dwellings of comfort and architec-
tural beauty. The bridle-paths of the savages had been widened
into gravelled roads, and the whole town threaded by commodious
streets. Instead of the absence of all means of conveyance, each
family was accommodated with his own vehicle, and the " fire
steed," on his steel-bound road, waited the bidding of his masters.
The sphere once so competently filled by John Sassamon, was now
so enlarged that a score of teachers found ample room in its en-
closures.
Wooden bowls, spoons, platters, and plates, were now only remem-
bered as things that had been, while crockery, glass, and silver,
supplied their places ; velvet sofas and stuffed chairs stood in the
places of settles and wooden benches, while five commodious houses
of worship were weekly filled with intelligent and devout worshippers.
Natick had become not slightly known in the wide world around ;
her manufactures were daily on the wharves of all the principal cities
of the Union ; her sons had climbed the Alps, gazed with awe on
the crumbling cathedrals of Milan and Rome, and spent delightful
days musing on the embosomed lakes of Swiss and Scottish scenery.
During the t^YO hundred years that had rolled away, the world
itself had almost become a new planet. The monarchs of Europe
had drawn the car of one who was born a citizen, and begged of
him the right to reign. The United States had broken away from
the control of Great Britain and asserted their independence, and
England herself, from being a secondary power, a rival of Spain and
Prance, had risen to the ascendency of empire. Gibraltar, Aden,
32 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Good Hope, India, bristled with her bayonets, until, in the words of
America's greatest statesman, " Her morning drum beat, beginning
with the rising sun, and, keeping company with the hours, circled the
earth with one continuous strain of the martial airs of Endand."
The feeling naturally rose in the minds of all interested, either as
natives or inhabitants of the town, that it would be appropriate to
celebrate the anniversary of its settlement, and call back on the
occasion the sons and daughters of the town once more to their native
place. Some of them were cultivating the rich valleys of the West ;
others living on the shores of the lakes, on the savannahs of the South,
and in the thronged cities of the coast. From their homes, efforts
were made to collect them, and on the eighth day of October, 1851,
the First Congregational Church was crowded with invited guests,
citizens, and strangers. The invocation was made by Rev. Mr.
Horton, pastor of the Methodist society, and the following original
Hymn, composed by Rev. James Flint, D. D., of Salem, was sung
by the Choir : —
I-
Where smiles so soft the landscape round,
And golden harvests deck the plain,
Once gloomy forests darkly frowned —
The wandering red man's wild domain.
II.
His home was with the beasts of prey ;
Like them untamed, by instinct led,
As rudely housed and fed as they,
Alone to war and hunting bred.
Ill,
A servant of the Crucified
Saw his red brother pass forlorn,
Darkling and sad, as one denied
The bourne for which the Cross was borne.
IV.
A Christ-like pity touched his heart :
A martyr's soul was kindled there,
The Gospel message to impart.
And win his tribe to faith and prayer.
The sachem with his follower felt
Th' attraction of the good man's love.
As with his flock in prayer he knelt,
And sought a blessing from above.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 33
VI.
He taught them arts by -vvhicli to thrive ;
^ To build, to plant and till the soil :
A village grew, compact, alive,
And stored with fruits of cheerful toU.
VII.
But most, thy meek apostle. Lord,
Labored to teach his flock to read.
In their own tongue, thy blessed Word,
And in their lives its truths to heed.
viif!
And Thou his patient toil didst bless,'
And many souls to Christ were led ;
But, such man's doom of transientness.
Tribe, tongue and teacher — all are fled !
IX.
Yet high in Heaven's archives sublime,
Dear Lord, thy meek apostle's name
Shall stand, and there outlive all time,
Above " all Greek — aU Koman fame ! "
Prayer was then offered by Rev. Mr. Thurston, of the Second
Congregational Church, and the following original hymn, written
by Rev. Mr. Watson, of the Baptist society, was sung : —
Two hundred years have rolled away.
To swell the tide of time's dark flood,
Since here the red man learned to pray
And praise our Pilgrim Fathers' God.
II.
A man in whom the Spirit dwelt,
Planted with prayer this model town ;
Slowly beneath these oaks he knelt.
And called Jehovah's blessing down.
III.
Our fathers sought. Great God, thy face,
And list thy heavenly voice to hear ;
They learned thy footsteps' aim to trace.
And saw thy light their pathway cheer.
34 HISTORY OF NATICK.
lY.
While warriors raged in fierce array,
And many hearts knew but despair,
At sound of drum, on Sabbath day,
They gathered in the place of prayer.
Here to the God who reigns above,
And rules the armies of the sky.
They sung their songs of fervent love,
And sent to Heaven their ardent cry.
»
VI.
Here Jesus' message was revealed,
And by its mild, transforming voice,
The desert turned a fruitful field,
And bade the wilderness rejoice.
VII.
For all thy mercies, Sovereign Lord,
Vouchsafe to us the hallowed day ;
Deep on thy altar we record
The thanks our hearts would fain repa.
VIH.
All glory to our fathers' God !
Sufficient is his grace alone :
Come, children, join to spread abroad
The honors that surround His throne.
Professor Calvin E. Stowe, D. D., a native of the town, made the
address. The following is a synopsis of it. Two hundred years ago,
said Prof. S., a singular scene was witnessed in this town, a scene
which angels beheld with joy. A group of Indians assembled on
Charles River, under the guidance of Rev. John Eliot, to lay the
foundation for a " praying town." They had previously a temporary
home of five years at Nonantum, the eastern part of Newton. They
Avere here too near the white men, some of whom exerted a pernicious
influence upon them. Mr. Eliot removed them away up into the
wilderness, where he thought that they would not be disturbed by
the English.
Here he estabhshed his first and most flourishing Indian church.
At one period it contained between sixty and seventy members.
Here he gave lectures on logic and theology. At one time, from
HISTORY OP NATICK. 35
this church he sent forth six teachers, to be pastors in other praying
towns. •
Prof. Stowe noticed some of the traits in Eliot's character. He
had perseverance and untiring industry. He did not commence his
efforts to acquire the Indian language until he -was forty-six. He
reduced a spoken language to writing, and published two editions of
the Bible. He was devoid of ostentation. Though he labored with
great success, still the spirit of boasting never appears in any of his
writings. He planted fourteen " praying towns," embracing 3,500
Indians.
Eliot sympathized most with the Indians, negroes and slaves.
His great effort was to raise the poor and degraded. Mr. Shepherd,
minister of Cambridge, used to say — " The country could not be
destroyed as long as Eliot lived." Mr. Eliot was a theologian of
much thought. In a letter to Richard Baxter, he speaks of man
being like God, because all his actions are voluntary. Ho uses the
word " spontaneity," the same that some modern theologian has used
who thinks he has made a great discovery. He speaks also of the
root-sin and actual transgression, or breaking of the law.
Our fathers set forth as one reason why they wished to form set-
tlements in the New World, that they might preach the Gospel to
the aboriginal inhabitants. Eliot seldom uttered complaints relative
to his discouragements.
Prof. S. here went into a discussion respecting the progress civil-
ization has made the last two centuries. The advance has been
slow but sure ; sometimes it has been retrograding, and at others
rapidly advancing. Our Puritan fathers had some faults, but still
they were in advance of the age in which they lived. We must
make advances upon what they did. To make these advances cer-
tain things must be don?. 1st. Absurdity must cease to be revered
because it is a theological absurdity. Illustrations were given by
the Catholic faith in the real presence of the body and blood of
Christ in the Eucharist, and the High Churchman's belief in grace
being conferred by apostohc succession. 2d. Christian sects and
parties in their treatment of each other must exercise mutual
charity. 3d. Schism must cease to be a means of reform. 4th.
Popular ignorance must come to an end. 5th. Business and em-
ployments that destroy men must cease. Under this head the
maker and vender of rum were especially enumerated. 6th. Op-
36 HISTORY OF NATICK.
pression of every kind must cease. 7th. War must cease. Mili-
tary men must not be honored above other men. Men must be
valued according to the real good they accomplish. When the
world is filled with Eliots, its redemption will draw nigh.
A portrait of John Eliot, which had been lately brought from
England by Rev. Edward Taylor, was exhibited in front of the
pulpit.
After the delivery of the address, the folio-wing original hymn, by
Mrs. L. S. Goodwin, of Natick, was sung.
Two centuries — their latest tide
Is flowing out to-day,
Since these glad rocks and vales descried
The first enlightening ray,
Unto the " place of hills," where then
A howling wild outspread —
Far from the haunts of other men.
His band a hero led.
II.
No peace-destroying clan were they,
On bloody conquest bent ;
But hitherward they took their way,
To dwell in meek content.
Sons of the forest — with what pride,
What fihal love and awe
They gaze upon the pale-face guide.
Whose wish to each is law.
III.
Eliot — e'en when has turned to dust
Yon pile which bears that name,
Preserve from faintest touch of rust.
His spotless, well-earned fame ! ^
His memory — let its youth remain
When time so far is gone
That men shall ask, and ask in vain —
" Who was Napoleon ? "
IV.
Here on the soil our feet have trod.
The red men reared their homes ;
Here worshipped dauntless Eliot's God,
In unpretending domes.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 37
Give utterance to these hills and dales,
To yonder stream * and lake ; f
And of that fading i-ace, what tales,
Long, long entombed, would wake !
These sods 'neath which their ashes sleep,
These plains, their rich bequest —
Those waters hasting to the deep.
Those in a cradled rest,
Oft echoed to the stalwart pace.
And to the wild halloo,
Or mirrored back some tawny face,
Bent o'er the light canoe.
VI.
But where 's the Indian to-day ?
We ask in mournful tones ;
The spade and ploughshare from the clay
Search out his mouldering bones ;
His trace grows dim o'er aU the land,
Like shadows waning slow ;
Naught more is left of that strong band —
Two hundred years ago.
MI.
The axe has felled the pristine oaks
"Which crowned this " place of hills ; "
The Sabbath bell, with measured strokes,
Sends forth its grateful thrills.
Here science beams, here wealth has source,
Here art holds mighty sway ;
The sun sees none in aE his course,
More blest than we to-day.
vni.
Yet, glorious as these changes seem,
Ay, glorious as they are.
Pity is seen, with eyes a-stream,
In retrospection's car.
'T is no light thing — a nation built
Upon another's dust !
E'en though no Avanton blood was spilt,
Betrayed no sacred trust.
IX.
O God ! if at our door lies blame,
Forgive, we humbly pray ;
* Charles River. t Cochituate.
38 HISTORY OF NATiCK.
And by thy blessings, still the same,
So richly ours this day ;
Let their heart-thankfulness be proved,
Who in time's farther flow.
Here speak of us, as those who lived
Two hundred years ago !
After singing the above hymn, a procession -was formed, -with Ed-
ward Walcott, Esq., as chief marshal, in the following order :
Aid. Chief Marshal. Aid.
Flag's Brass Band.
The Victor and Eliot Engine Companies, in uniform.
Aid. Marshal. Aid.
Committee of Arrangements.
Town Clerk.
Select Men and other Officers of the Town.
Aid. Marshal. Aid.
The Takawampait Lodge of Odd Fellows.
Sons of Temperance.
Aid. Marshal. Aid.
Citizens with their Families four deep.
Hon. Henry Wilson presided at the table. After partaking of a
liberal repast addresses were made by several gentlemen. Rev.
George Copway exhibited in his person and in the address he made
a specimen of what a Christianized Indian may be.
Rev. Joseph B. Felt, of Boston, stated the historical facts respect-
ing the early planting of Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies, to show
why they did not, at an earlier period, enter on the work of convert-
ing the Indians to Christianity.
Lorenzo Sabine, Esq., of Framingham, the historian of the royal-
ists, stated some interesting facts respecting the early settlement of
Maine.
Rev. Martin Moore, of Boston, the biographer of EHot, and for
twenty years pastor of the church in Natick, said the inhabitants of
his town knew all he could say on an occasion like this, and had
heard it before. On the 13th of October, 1652, Mr. Eliot, with
divers interpreters, several ministers and laymen, came to Natick to
gather a church. The Indians called this day " Natootomakteache-
HISTORY OF NATICK. 39
sak," the day of asking questions. One statement of Eliot he said
"was worthy of remembrance : " I have travelled in the -wilderness,"
said he, " from the third to the sixth day of the week without a sin-
gle dry thread in my clothes. At night, I pull off my boots, wring
my stockings, and then lie down on the ground to sleep. I consider
these words of the apostle : ' Endure hardships as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ.' "
While this celebration, the most important that ever occurred in
town, passed off to the entire satisfaction of all concerned, it is be-
lieved its influence will be valuable in causing the name and virtues
of Eliot to be more highly prized, and in fixing the principal facts in
relation to the early settlement of the town more permanently in the
minds of its inhabitants.
CHAPTER lY.
Early White Settlers. Act of General Court, erectino Natick ixto an
English District. Extracts from Records. Town Meetings. Reso-
lution OF Town on Declaration op Independence. Muster Roll of
Natick Company at Bunker Hill. Proprietors of the town in 1719,
IN 1782, IX 1800.
After 1762, we find the name of no Indian in the list of town offi-
cers. Prior to this, as far back as 1733, they frequently occur,
while, previous to this latter date, they were all Indians.
Thomas Ellis and Thomas Sawin are the first English names which
appear on the proprietors' book as officers of the town. Thomas
Sawin was the first white settler, and was one of four brothers who
came to the United States and settled at the same time, as will be
seen in another part of this work.
The following is the Act of the General Court, erecting the parish
and society of Natick into a district :
'^Whereas, the society and parish of Natick, so-called, within the
county of Middlesex, labor under many and great difficulties, by rea-
son of their not being erected into a separate and distinct district.
Therefore, be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and House of
Representatives, That the society and parish of Natick be, and here-
by is, erected into a district by the name of Natick, according to the
boundaries of said parish ; and that the inhabitants of said society and
parish be, and hereby are, invested with all the powers, privileges
and immunities that districts are invested with, agreeably to an act
passed the first year of His Majesty's reign, intitled, ' An act for the
better regulating districts within this Province ; ' Provided, that the
present meeting-house shall not be removed, or any other meeting-
house erected within the same, without the special license of this
Court."
The places at which the meetings of the town were warned, in its
early history, were, the meetinghouse at South Natick, the centre
school-house, which stood on the hill, a few rods to the west of the
house owned by Mr. Daniel Wight, on the old Sherborn road, so-
HISTORY OF NATICK. 41
called, and at private houses, Mr. Samuel Morse's, Stephen Bacon's,
&c. While the town was thus organized, we find the record of votes
passed, some of which we transcribe, under their respective dates.
1763. March 31. Voted to finish the galleries and build gal-
lery stairs in the meeting-house.
1765. Sept. 23d. Voted to finish the meeting-house, by a con-
siderable majority.
1767. March 4th. Granted X40 towards finishing the meeting-
house.
1787. February 5th. The last article in the proprietors' book is
in substance as follows : Whereas, there are several small parcels of
broken lands in the proprietee of Natick that are unappropriated, and
not capable of division among the proprietors, who are poor, and un-
able to pay for a survey of the same, and the whole being of small
value : Therefore, voted unanimously, that the clerk to the said pro-
prietors be desired and directed to sign the petition to the General
Court, praying for power to sell the remaining common lands in
Natick, and, after paying charges, subdivide the remaining money
arising from said sale, among the proprietors.
1775. This is an eventful period in the history of the town. Many
of its inhabitants were engaged in the incipient measures of the
revolutionary war. The alarm on the morning of the 19th of April,
caused by the appearance of a body of British troops in Concord,
was sounded by Captain Dudley, of Sudbury, and found all classes
ready for the emergency. Some movement of the kind had been an-
ticipated. News had been sent to Natick about a fortnight before,
that some expedition was soon to be set forward, by the commander
of the forces then occupying Boston, by which the military stores in
Worcester and Concord were to be destroyed.
When the news came, early in the morning, the people rapidly as-
* sembled on the common, provided themselves with ammunition, and
marched, full of zeal, to attack the British. One of the survivors of
this scene, a short time previous to his death, said that every man
that morning was a minute-man. Two Natick men, Cajsar Ferrit,
and his son John, arrived at a house near Lexington, before the British
troops reached it on their return from Concord. From the entry of
the house they discharged their muskets at the Regulars, and then
secreted themselves under the cellar stairs. In passing, several of
the troops entered the house and made diligent though unsuccessful
search for their annoyers.
42 HISTORY OF NATICK.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the number of the in-
habitants who were in the war, or to give their names. John Bacon,
the father of Captain David Bacon, before mentioned, fell at Lexing-
ton ; Captain Baldwin, at Bunker Hill ; Captain Joseph Morse, Lieut.
Abel Perrj, and Lieut. William Bowden, were all officers in the
revolutionary army. Captain Morse remained in the service till the
year 1799, when he came home an invalid, and died on the 16th of
December of the same year.
The votes of the following year show the determination of the peo-
ple of the town, and indicate a resolution not to be behind more
wealthy places in furnishing men and money.
1776. May 20th, All warrants for town or district meetings, as
they were called, prior to this date were issued in the name and by the
authority of the Government of Great Britain. The warrant bear-
ing the date above was by the authority of the Government of Massa-
chusetts Bay.
At a meeting of June 20, 1776, a resolve, expressive of the views
entertained by the town, on the Declaration of Independence by the
Colonies, was drafted by a Committee, consisting of Bev. Stephen
Badger, Captain John Coolidge, and Daniel Morse, and unanimously
adopted.
"At a meeting of the town of Natick, legally warned and assem
bled, June 20, 1776. In consequence of a Resolve of the late House
of Bepresentatives being laid before the town, letting forth their
sense of the obligations which lie upon every town in this Colony
solemnly to engage to support, with their lives and fortunes, the Hon-
orable Continental Congress, should said Congress, for the safety of
the American Colonies, come into the measure of declaring them
selves independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain,
It was unanimously Voted, that in consideration of the many acts
of the British Parliament, passed in diverse sessions of the same,
within about thirteen years past, relating to said Colonies, especially
those within the two or three last years, by which every idea of mod-
eration, justice, humanity and Christianity is entirely laid aside, and
those principles and measures adopted and pursued which would dis.
grace the most unenlightened and uncivilized tribe of aboriguaal
natives, in the most interior part of this extensive continent; and also
in consideration of the glaring impropriety, incapacity and fatal ten-
dency of any State whatever, at the distance of three thousand miles to
HISTORY OF NATICK. 43
legislate for these Colonies, which at the same time are so numerous, so
knowing, and so capable of legislating, or to have a negative upon
those laws which they in their respective Assemblies and by their
united representation in General Court shall from time to time enact
and establish for themselves ; and for diverse other considerations
which for brevity's sake we omit to mention, — we, the inhabitants of
Natick, in town meeting assembled, do hereby declare, agreeably to
the tenor of the before mentioned Resolve, that should the Honorable
Continental Congress declare these American Colonies independent
of the Kingdom of Great Britain, we will with our lives and fortunes
join with the other inhab]tants of this Colony, and with those of the
other Colonies, in supporting them in said measure, which we look
upon to be both important and necessary ; and which, if we may be
permitted to suggest an opinion, the sooner it is entered into the fewer
difficulties shall we have to conflict with, and the grand objects of
peace, liberty, and safety, will be more likely speedily to be restored
and established in our once happy land.
(Signed) Daniel Morse, Town Clerk."
In February of 1776 a call was made for men to reinforce the
army attempting the conquest of Canada, and in July we find the
town voting seven pounds as an additional sum to the bounty of seven
pounds offered by Government, for men who would engage in it.
The scenes of the 17th of June, 1776, are familiar to all. An
account of them and of the measures which followed them, would be
more appropriate elsewhere than in a history of a town. Suffice it
to say that the British troops, which numbered near three thousand
men, after having been addressed by their general, were marched
directly up the hill on to the American lines, confident of an easy
conquest — the ships cannonading at the same time the redoubt — and
poured in a regular heavy fire. An overwhelming discharge was re-
turned, and in the course of ten minutes the enemy gave way and
retreated in disorder down the hill. After manoeuvring for some
time, the British made a second attack, but with no better fortune.
Our troops waited until they were very near, and then poured in
upon them so fatal a fire that a second time they were forced to
retreat.
Reinforced by a company from Boston of fresh troops, they a third
time advanced upon the American lines. Worn out by the fatigue
44
HISTORY OF NATICK.
of the fight, and ammunition failing, a retreat was ordered and brought
off in good order.
Before the events just related a military company had been formed
in Natick, and officers chosen for any emergency. A muster-roll of
this company has fallen into my hands, and I give it to readers now
for the first time. It was under the command of Captain James
Mann, in Colonel Samuel Ballard's Regiment, and marched on the
alarm by the Battle of Bunker's Hill. They were all residents of
the town of Natick, and were allowed Id. per mile travelled for their
services, which amounted, for the whole Company, for two days' ser-
vices, to £11 8s. 9d. The original roll is in the hands of Eben.
Mann, Myrtle, corner of Belknap street, Boston, who is great grand-
son to Captain James Mann. Captain Mann's place was that now
owned by Mr. Calvin Leland.
James Mann, Captain.
. ' Timothy Smith, Lieutenant.
Daniel Morse, Ensign.
Oliver Bacon,
Henry Loker,
Elijah Esty,
Hezekiah Broad.
Sergeants.
William Bacon,
Private.
Moses Eisk,
Private.
Ephraim Dana,
((
Thomas Eames,
Joshua risk,
a
Eleazor Bacon,
John Reed,
<(
Park Parker,
Ephraim Bullard,
a
Richard Stanford
)
Thomas Sawin,
a
Daniel Travis,
John Felch,
ii
Ebenezer Mann,
Asa Drury,
((
Elijah Bacon,
Ephraim Whitney,
a
Richard Bacon,
Thomas Broad,
ii
Daniel Stratton,
Henry Cogen,
ii
John Bowden,
David Haven,
ii
Job Bond,
Benjamin Smith,
u
^Ephraim Bacon,
Amos Morse,
ii
John Gay,
Samuel Morse,
it
Moses Dawing,
Moses Mann,
a
Joseph Bacon,
Ezekiel Sawin,
a
Abel Perry.
a -~
STORY OF NATICK. 45
In 1778 the town voted not to confirm the new constitution. Na-
tick was always opposed to the constitution, and chose a delegate to
the convention to vote against it. Although opposed to its adoption
they afterwards agreed to support it, as is apparent from the oath
of allegiance which is on the records of the town, with the names
of twenty-nine proprietors subscribed to it. The following is a
copy of it.
" We the subscribers do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess,
testify, and declare, that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is, and
of right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and independent State ; and we
do swear that we will bear true faith and allegiance to the said Com-
monwealth, and that we will defend the same against traitorous con-
spiracies and all hostile attempts whatsoever. And that we do re-
nounce, and abjure all allegiance, subjection, and obedience, to the
King, Queen, or Governor of Great Britain, (as the case may be,) and
every other foreign power whatsoever. And that no foreign prince,
person, prelate, state or potentate, hath or ought to have any jurisdic-
tion, superiority, preeminence, authority, dispensing or other power,
in any matter, civil, ecclesiastical, or spiritual, within this Common-
wealth, except the authority or power which is or may be vested by
their constituents in the Congress of the United States. And we
do further testify and declare, that no man, or body of men, hath or
can have any right to absolve or discharge us from the obligations of
this oath, declaration, or affirmation. And that we do make this ac-
knowledgment, profession, testimony, declaration, denial, renunci
ation and abjuration, heartily and truly, according to the common
meaning and acceptation of the foregoing words, without any equivo-
cation, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever. So help
us God.
(Signed)
Hezekiah Broad, Oliver Bacon,
Thomas Broad, Samuel Morse, Jr.,
Joshua Fisk, Thomas Sawin, Jr.,
Samuel Morse, William Goodnow,
William Biqlow, Aaron Smith,
Moses Sawin, Eleazor Goulding.
David Morse, Town Clerk.
46 HISTORY OF NATICK.
' Selectmen.
Hezekiah Broad,
Oliver Bacon,
Thomas Broad,
Joshua Fisk,
Samuel Morse, Jr., \
Thomas Saavin, Jr., V Assessors.
Timothy Smith, )
Joseph Morse, ) constables."
Adam Morse. )
As far back as 1719 we find a vote " passed in general town meet-
ing ^ the Proprietors, Free-holders and Inhabitants of ye town of
Natick, warned and met together on Monday, ye 4th day of May.
In order to the better stating, distinguishing, knowing and setting
the proprietors and proprietee to the lands in Natick, &c.
Francis Fullum, Esq., President at said meeting. Voted unani-
mously at ye above said meeting, that Abraham Speen, James Speen,
Moses Speen, Josiah Speen, Isaac Speen, John Speen, Isaac Mana-
quasin, John Wansanug's heirs, Captain Thomas Waban, Thomas
Pegan, Simon Ephraim, Benj. Tray, Samuel Bowman, Samuel W.
Bight, Samuel Umpertawm, Hannah Labomsug, Solomon Thomas,
Israel Pomhaman, Samuel Abraham and Thomas Nehemiah, shall be
henceforth allowed, held, reputed, and distinguished to be the only
and true proprietors of Natick." — (An abstract taken out of the
second book of records for the town of Natick, in keeping of Honor-
able Francis Fullum, Esq. Examined and attested by William. Rider,
proprietors' clerk for Natick.)
This William Rider was an inhabitant of Sherborn, and was both
proprietors' clerk and surveyor until the act of 1745, was passed,
when Eben Felch was chosen, and continued to hold the office fifteen
years. His name is the first that appears on the town books as
clerk.
John Jones, Esq., was clerk for a short time succeeding him. He
lived on a farm now known as the Loring place, on the south side of
Charles River.
The river runs nearly round it, being its east, west and northern
boundary. His name appears in the list* of Deacons of the first
church, as Colonel in the militia, and one of his Majesty's Justices of
* See Ecclesiastical History.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 47
the Peace before the Revolution. He died in February of the year
1802.
We have frequently had occasion to introduce votes of the town
into our history as we find them on the records. It may be interest-
ing to know somewhat of the meetings themselves, as we may from
knowing the places at which they were held, who were engaged in
them, and the places of their residence.
With this object in view I have prepared, in addition to the list of
the proprietors in 1719, just given, a list of those who owned the
farms of the town previous to 1800, and designated the places of
which they were owners. We see among them names now familiar
to our ears, almost catch the tones of their voices as they urge their
views on the attention of the meetings, and watch them returning to
their homes, to relate the success or defeat of their favorite measures.
It is worthy of note that but two of the proprietors of these places
now survive — our respected and venerable townsmen, Captain Wil-
liam Stone * and Deacon William Coolidge, the representatives of a
past generation, still active and interested in the welfare of the pres-
ent. May they see their successors as prudent, sagacious and pub-
lic-spirited as their fathers. " One generation passeth away and
another generation cometh, but the earth remaineth forever."
We think we shall be pardoned for any mistakes in this attempt to
exhibit the occupants of the farms so many years after, when it is
considered that the same farm frequently had several occupants.
Proprietor.
Residence.
Elijah Perry,
now
Elijah Perry, Jr's., — -
John Bacon,
((
Willard Bacon's,
Thomas Sawin,
a
Thomas Sawin, Jr's.,
Ezekiel Sawin,
a
Sumner Goulding's,
Hezekiah Broad,
a
Hezekiah Broad, Jr's.,
Stephen Badger,
a
Oliver Bacon's,
John Atkins,
((
Hon. John Wells's,
David Morse,
a
heirs of Thomas B. Gannett,
Ephraim Dana,
((
Mrs. Tabitha Leach's,
Isaac Biglow,
a
house opposite Moses Eams's,
Samuel Perry,
11
owned by Curtis Company,
Reuben Draper,
a
heirs of Reuben Draper, Jr's.,
* Deceased after tliis was -written.
48
HISTORY OF NATICK.
James Mann,
now
Calvin Leland's,
Elijah Bacon,
a
Gershom Learned's,
John Sawin,
a
Daniel Coolidge's,
Abel Perrj,
a
Timothy Coolidge's,
Freeman Sears,
a
Edward Walcott's,
Joshua Fish,
a
heirs of Moses Fish,
Samuel Washburn,
a
Jedediah Washburn's,
David Bacon,
u
Oliver N. Bacon's,
John Coolidge,
a
Nella Coolidge's,
Berial Sparrowhawk,"
late Joseph Prescott's,
Josiah Walker,
if.
Mrs. Josiah Walker's,
William Bowden,
a
Lowell Perry's, "*
William Stone,
u
William Stone's,
Daniel Travis,
iC
John Travis's,
John Bowden,
;;
Chester Morse's,
Edward Hammond,
a
Thomas F. Hammond's,
Ebenezer Felch,
li
Luther H. Gleason's,
Ethel Jennings,
a
Jonathan Moore's,
Robert Jennison,
a
Joel Pierce's,
Henry Coggin,
a
Henry Coggin's,
Bichard Bacon,
a
heirs of Ephraim Jennings,
Henry Bacon,
a
Faither Coggin's,
Asa Felch,
a
Rev. Isaac Jennison's,
Isaac Underwood,
li
heirs of John Bacon, 3d,
Adam Morse,
a
Horace B. Morse's,
Samuel Morse,
(C
Calvin Morse's,
Moses Fish,
a
Deacon Samuel Fish's,
William Farriss,
a
heirs of William Farriss, Esi
Thomas Broad,
a
William Howard's,
Isaac Goodnow,
a
Nathan Rice's,
Stephen Bacon,
a
late Josiah Child's.
The map of the town by H. F. Walling, published in 1853, will be
found useful, in this connection, to strangers or those who have been
long absent from town. An enlarged plan of the village is exhibited
upon it, the names of the streets, the public building, ponds,
school districts, &c.
CHAPTER y.
Ecclesiastical History. The Pkaying Indians at Natick. Indian Bible
AND OTHER InDIAN TRANSLATIONS BY Mr. ElIOT. HeV. OlIVER PeABODY,
AND Organization of his Church. Publications op Mr. Peabody.
Biographical Notice op Rev. Stephen Badger. Formation of his
Church. Its Dissolution. Publications op Mr. Badger.
An ecclesiastical history of Natick comprises prooerly a history
of the " Praying Indians."
This was the earliest and most important of the praying towns.
The first Indian meeting-house was erected here. Here the Courts
were held. In the year 1674, there were gathered here twenty-nine
families. Reckoning five persons to a family, we have a hundred
and forty-five persons. The church, fifty communicants, — some
resident in other towns.
But we have given so extensive an account of the Indian church
in the civil history of the place, that little remains to do, except to
notice the translations of Mr. Eliot into the Indian language, and
other of his publications connected with his ministry to the Indians.
Eliot wrote several narratives of the advancement and condition of
religion among the Indians, which were published in England ; a
tract, entitled " Communion of the Churches ; " a " History of the
Gospel," and " The Christian Commonwealth," a work which was
pronounced seditious by the Colonial Government — publicly recanted
and suppressed. He was also, at an earlier day, one of the com-
mittee by whom "T/iC Bay Psalm Book^^ was prepared. His
reputation, however, rests upon his Indian Grammar, and various
translations into the Indian language, the chief of which was that of
the Bible, completed in 1663. From the commencement of his
ministry among the natives, the project of his translation seems to
have been floating in his mind, but the magnitude of the work and
the difficulties with which it was likely to be attended, sometimes
discouraged him ; and in his " Further Progress of the Gospel,"
published in 1655, he says, despondingly, " I have no hope to see
the Bible translated, much less printed in my own day." Yet ho
4
50 HISTORY OF NATICK.
labored at the task from time to time, trusting that the providence of
God -would at length send the aid necessary to print such portions of
it as should be prepared for the press.
Nor was his trust in vain ; through the aid of the " Corporation for
Promoting the Gospel among the Heathen in New England," the New
Testament was published at Cambridge, in September, 1661, soon after
the restoration of Charles the Second to the throne. The printing was
completed while the question of the confirmation of the Society's
charter was pending, and it was deemed an excellent opportunity to
conciliate the good will of the king, to whom the Commissioners of
the United Colonies dedicated the translation in an address written
in a tone adapted to win his favorable regard. This dedication has
the following preface : " Upon the information of the dissolution of
the Corporation, and intimation of hopes that his Majesty would renew
and confirm the same, &c., the Commissioners thought meet to
present his Majesty with the New Testament printed in the Indian
language, with these presents following, &;c."
The document itself, as printed in the few copies of the Testament
sent to England, is in these words ; —
" To the High and Mighty Prmce Charles the Second, hy the
Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith, ^c, the Commissioners of
the United Colonies in New England with increase of all
happiness, &c.
Most Dread Sovereign : —
If our weak apprehensions have not misled us, this work will be
no unacceptable present to your Majesty as having a greater interest
therein than we believe is generally understood, which (upon this
occasion) we deem it our duty to declare.
The people of these four Colonies (confederated for mutual
defence in the time of the late distractions of our dear native
country) your Majesty's natural born subjects, by the favor and
grant of your royal father and grandfather, of famous memory, put
themselves upon this great and hazardous undertaking, of planting
themselves at their own charge in these remote ends of the earth,
that, without offence and provocation to our Brethren and Country-
men, we might enjoy that liberty to worship God, which our own con-
sciences informed us was not only our right, but duty ; as also that
HISTORY OF NATICK. 51
we might (if it so pleased God) be instrumental to spread the light
of the Gospel, the knowledge of the Son of God, our Saviour, to the
poor barbarous heathen, which, by his late Majesty, in some of our
Patents, is declared to be his principal aim.
These honest and pious intentions have, through the grace and
goodness of God, and our kings, been seconded with proportionable
success ; for, omitting the immunities indulged by your Highness'
royal Predecessors, vre have been greatly encouraged by your
Majesty's gracious expressions of favor and approbation signified
unto the Address made by the Principal of our Colonies, to which
the rest do most cordially subscribe, though, wanting the like season-
able opportunity, they have been (till now) deprived of the means
to congratulate your Majesty's happy restitution, after your long
suffering, which we implore may yet be graciously accepted, that we
may be equal partakers of your royal favor and moderation, which
hath been so illustrious, that (to admiration) the animosities and
different persuasions of men have been so soon composed, and so
much cause of hope, that (unless the sins of the Nation prevent) a
blessed calm will succeed the late horrid confusions of Church and
State : and, shall not we Dread Sovereign) your subjects of these
Colonies, of the same faith and behef in all points of doctrine with
our countrymen, and the other reformed churches (though perhaps
not alike persuaded in some matters of order, which in outward
respects hath been unliappy for us) promise and assure ourselves of
all just favor and indulgence from a Prince so happily and graciously
endovy'ed ?
The other part of our errand hither hath been attended with
endeavors and blessing, many of the wild Indians being taught, and
understanding the doctrine of the Christian religion, and with much
affection attending such preachers as are sent to teach them, many
of their children arc instructed to write and read, and some of them
have proceeded further, to attain the knowledge of the Latin and
Greek tongues, and are brought up with our English youths in
University learning. There are divers of them that can, and do read
some parts of the Scripture, and some catechisms, which formerly
have been translated into their own language, which hath occasioned
the undertaking of a greater work, viz., the printing of the whole
Bible, which (being translated by a painful laborer amongst them,
who was desirous to see the work accomplished in his day) hath
52 HISTORY OF NATICK.
already proceeded to finishing the New Testament, which we here
humbly present to your Majesty, as the first fruits and accomplish-
ment of the pious design of your royal ancestors.
The Old Testament is now under the press, wanting and craving
your royal favor and assistance, for the perfecting thereof.
We may not conceal that though this work hath been begun and
prosecuted by such instruments as God has raised up here, yet the
chief charge and cost which hath supported and carried it thus far,
hath been from the charity and piety of our well afi"ected country-
men in England, who, being sensible of our inability in that respect,
and studious to promote so good a work, contributed large sums of
money, which were to be improved according to the direction and
order of the then-prevailing powers, which hath been faithfully and
religiously attended both here and there, according to the pious
intenHons of the benefactors : and we do most humbly beseech your
Majesty, that a matter of so much devotion and piety, tending so
much to the honor of God, may sufier no disappointment through
any legal defect (without the fault of the donors, or the poor
Indians, who only receive the benefit) but that your Majesty may
be graciously pleased to establish and confirm the same, being
contrived and done (as we conceive) in the first year of your
Majesty's reign, as this book was begun and now finished in the first
year of your establishment, which doth not only presage the happy
success of your Majesty's Government, but will be a perpetual
monument, that by your Majesty's Favor the Gospel of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ was first made known to the Indians, an honor
whereof (we are assured) your Majesty will not a little esteem.
Sir : — The shines of your royal favor upon these undertakings,
will make these tender plants to flourish, notwithstanding any
malevolent aspect from those that hear evil will to this Lion,
and render Your Majesty more illustrious and glorious to
after generations.
The God of heaven long preserve and hless Your Majesty ivith
many happy days, to his glory, the good and comfort of his
Church and people. — Amen.^'
In 1663, the Old and New Testaments and a version of the
Psalter in a separate volume, were completed, and a copy of each
forwarded to the king. Richard Baxter, who was a friend and
HISTORY OF NATICK. 53
correspondent of Eliot, speaks of the gift as " such a work and fruit
of a phintation as was never before presented to a king." The
perfect Bible was accompanied by the following dedicatory address,
which, Thomas states, was omitted in nearly all the copies circulated
in America : —
" To the high and mighty Prince Qharles the Second, by the
grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith, ^-c, the Commissioners of
the United Colonies in New England, wish all happiness, &c.
Most Dread Sovereign : —
As our former presentation of the New Testament was graciously
accepted by your Majesty, so, with all humble thankfulness for that
royal favor, and with the like hope, we are bold now to present the
WHOLE Bible, translated into the language of the natives of this
country, by a painful laborer in that ivork, and now printed and
finished, by means of the pious beneficence of Your Majesty's
subjects in England ; which also by your special favor hath been
continued and confirmed, to the intended use and advancement of so
great and good a work as is the Propagation of the Gospel to these
poor barbarians in this (erewhile) unknown world.
Translations of the Holy Scriptures, — the Word of the King of
kings, — have ever been deemed not unworthy of the most princely
dedications ; examples whereof are extant in divers languages. But
your Majesty is the first which hath received one in this language,
or from the American world, or from any parts so remote from
Europe as these are, for aught that ever we heard of.
Publication also of these sacred writings to the sons of men (who
here, and here only, have the ministers of their eternal salvation
revealed to them by the God of heaven) is a work that the greatest
princes have honored themselves by.
But, to publish and communicate the same to a lost people, as
remote from knowledge and civility, much more from Christianity,
as they were from all showing, civil atiil Christian nations, — a people
without law, without letters, without riches, or means to procure any
such thing, — a people that sat as deep in darkness and in the shadow
of death as (we think) any since the creation. This puts a lustre
upon it that is superlative, and to have given royal patronage and
countenance to such a publication, or to the means thereof, will
54 HISTORY OF NATICK.
stand among the marks of lasting honor in the eyes of all that
are considerate, even unto after generations.
And, though there be in this Western world many Colonies of
other European nations, yet we humbly conceive, no Prince has had
a return of such a work as this ; which may be some token of the
success of your Majesty's plantation of Neiv England, undertaken
and settled under the encouragement and security of your ro^al
father and grandfather, of famous memory, and cherished with like
gracious aspects from your Majesty.
Though indeed the present Poverty of these plantations could not
have accomplished this work had not the forementioned Bounty of
England lent Relief; nor could that have continued to stand us in
stead, without the Influence of Your Royal Favor and Authority, where-
by the Corporation there for Propagatiyig the Crospel among these
Natives hath been established and encouraged, (whose Labor of Love,
Care and Faithfulness in that Trust, must ever be remembered with
Honor ;) yea, when private persons, for their private Ends, have of late
sought Advantages to deprive the said Corporation of Half the Pos-
sessions that had been by Liberal Contributions, obtained for so
Religious Ends.
We understand That, by an Honorable and Righteous Decision in
Your Majesty's Court of Cliancery, their Hopes have been defeated,
and the Thing settled where it was and is ; for which great favor and
illustrious fruit of Your Majesty's Government we cannot but return
our most humble thanks in this Public manner ; and as the result of
the joint Endeavors of Your Majesty's subjects, there and here, act-
ing under your Royal Influence, We present You with this work,
which upon sundry accounts is to be called yours.
The Southern Colonies of the Sjjanish Nation have sent home
from this American Continent, much Gold and Silver as the fruit and
End of their discoveries and Transplantations : That (we confess)
is a scarce commodity in this Colder Climate ; but (suitable to the
ends of our undertaking,) we Present this and other Concomitant
Fruits of our poor Endeavors td^lant and Propagate the Gospel here,
Avhichjupon a true account, is as much better than Gold, as the souls of
men are more worth than the whole World. This is a noble fruit, (and
in the counsels of an All-disposing Providence was a higher intended
End) of Columbus, his Adventure. And though by his Brother being
hindered from a seasonable Application, your Famous Predecessor
HISTORY OF NATICK. 55
and Ancestor, King Henry the Seventh missed of being sole Owner of
that first Discovery, and of the riches thereof, yet if the Honor of
first discovering the true and saving knowledge of the Gospel unto
the poor Americans, and of Erecting the Kingdom of Jesus Christ
among them, be reserved for, and do redound unto your Majesty
and the English Nation, after ages will not reckon this inferior to
the other. Religion is the End and Glory of mankind, and as it was
the professed End of this Plantation, so we dcsigiT ever to keep it in
our eye as our main design, (both to ourselves and the natives about
us,) and that our Products may be answerable thereunto. Give us
therefore leave, QDread Sovereign,') yet again humbly to beg the con-
tinuance of your Royal Favor, and of the Influences thereof, upon
this poor Plantation, The United Colonies of Neiv England, for the
securing and establishment of our Civil Privileges and Religious Liber-
ties hitherto enjoyed ; and upon this Good Work of Propagating Reli-
gion to these Natives, that the Supports and Encouragements thereof
from England may be still countenanced and confirmed.
May this Nursling still suck the Breast of Kings, and be fostered
by your Majesty, as it bath been by your Royal Pi-edecessors, unto
the preservation of its Main Concernments. It shall thrive and
prosper to the Glory of God and the Honor of your Majesty. Neither
■will it be any loss or grief unto our Lord the King, to have the
Blessing of the Poor to conTe upon Him, and that from these Ends of
the Earth.
Tlie Grod hy wliom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Jastice, Bless
Your Majesty and establish your Throne in Righteousness, in Mercy
and in Truth, to the Gtlory of His Name, the Good of His People, and
to your 01071 Comfort and Rejoicing, not in this only hut in another
World."
The title-page is in English and Indian. The Indian title is as
follows : " Mamusse Wemetupematamwe, Up-Biblum God naneeswe
Nekkone-Testament kakwonk Wusku Testament. Nequoshinnumuk
nashpe Wattemeamak Christ noh asoowesit John Eliot Nahohteou
outchetoe Printewoomuk, Cambridge Printenoop nashpe Samuel
Green." »
We give, as a specimen of the Indian language, the Lord's
Prayer, with the English translation, from the first edition of the New
Testament, printed at Cambridge, in 1661.
56 HISTORY OF NATICK.
THE LORD'S PRAYER, 3Iatt, 6 : 9.
Nooslium kesukqut qnttianata- OurFatherAvli^ch art in heaven,
manack hoowesaouk. Pejaura- hallowed be thj name : Thy king-
ooutch kukkenau-toomoouk ne a dom come : thy will be done in
nack okkeet neam kesukqut.
1^ em-meet-sougash' asekesuhokesu
assanmauean yedyee kesu-kod
eai'th, as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread : And
forgive us our debts, as vfe forgive
Kah ahquotaneas inneaen numma- our debtors : And lead us not into
teheouqasu, neem machenekuke- j temptation, but deliver us from
qig nutahquoretawmomouag. Ah- evil : for thine is the kingdom, and
que sag hompagunaianeem en- \ the power, and the glory, forever,
qutchuasouqauit webe pohquohwa- Amen,
ossueau •svutch matchitut. Newat-
che hutahteem ketassootamouk
hah nuumkessouk, kah sohsa-|
moouk michene. Amen. '
" The first impression of the Indian Bible," says Dr. Francis, in
his excellent life of Eliot, " sufficed for about twenty years. In
1680, another edition of the New Testament was published. Mr.
Eliot, in a letter written during that period to the Hon. Mr. Boyle,
alludes to it when he says, ' We are at the nineteenth Chapter of
the Acts, and when we have impressed the New Testament, our
commissioners approve of my preparing and impressing the Old.' "
In addition to the Psalms, a Catechism was annexed as in the first
impression. This New Testament has the imprint of. Cambridge,
but no printer's name. In 1685, a second edition of the Old Testa-
ment appeared, printed at Cambridge, by Samuel Green. This was
bound with the last impression of the New Testament, and the two
parts, thus taken together, constitute the second edition of the whole
Bible, though there was an interval of five years between the times
at which the two Testaments respectively appeared. Each part has
but one title-page, which is in Indian, and the same as before. We
learn some facts respecting this second edition of the Indian ver-
sion, from Eliot's correspondence with Mr. Boyle. The whole im-
pression was two thousand copies. It was superintended by Mr.
Eliot, who gave a part of his salary towards defraying the expense.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 57
and received for the same purpose, from the corporation in England,
through Mr. Boyle, £900 at different times: namely, <£40 at one
time, <£460 at another, and £400 at a third. If some collateral
expenses be included, the whole cost of the impression must have
been little, if any, short of £1000. Mr. Eliot's remarks lead us
to suppose that the first edition Avas nearly or quite exhausted. If
so, and if the number of the copies was what I have supposed, this
fact will furnish us with a measure by which we may estimate the
demand for the Scriptures among the Indians for twenty years after
the translation was first printed. We might presume that the num-
ber of copies which curiosity might lead the people of the colony to
purchase, or which courtesy might send to England, could not be
large.
Eliot apologized to Mr. Boyle for the slow progress of the print-
ing, by alleging the want of an adequate number of workmen, and
the interruption of labor among those they had, by sickness, which
prevailed fatally in the winter of 1683 and the spring of 1684.
His heart was saddened by these and other events which seemed to
throw discouragement on the work ; for he was then bending beneath
the weight of years, and with the feeling of an old and faithful ser-
vant, his soul yearned to witness, as his last labor, the completion of
the new edition of his translation.
The affectionate earnestaess with which he dwells oa the subject
in his correspondence with the English philosopher, has a touching
interest : " My age," says he, " makes me importunate. I shall
depart joyfully, may I but leave the Bible among them, for it is the
word of life." Again he writes, " I desire to sec it before I die,
and I am so deep in years that I cannot expect to live long, and
sundry say if I do not procure it printed while I live, it is not within
the prospect of human reason, whether ever, or when, or howit may
be accomplished." lie bore it on his heart to God in his devotions,
and the anxious earnestness of his soul seemed to be fixed on this
point.
The prayer of the good man was answered. He lived to see a
new impression of his Bible, and when he took the precious volume
in his hands, we can easily imagine that with uplifted hands he may
have uttered the Nunc Dimittis of the aged Simeon. In preparing
his second edition Mr. Eliot received valuable assistance from the
Qev. John Cotton, of Plymouth, who had spent much of the time
58 HISTORY OF NATICK.
for several years in forming an acquaintance with the Indian lan-
guage. This obligation Eliot acknowledged in a letter to Boyle in
1688. Several years before that time Boyle had intrusted to Eliot
,£30 for the promotion of religion among the Indians. The money
had not been expended, perhaps because no opportunity had occurred
for the particular mode of using it which Boyle designed. Of this
sum Eliot requested that XIO might be given to Major Gookin's
widow, who was poor, XIO to Gookin's son, who lectured among the
Indians, and £10 to Mr. John Cotton, " who," says he, " helped
me much in the second edition of the Bible."
Perhaps Mr. Cotton revised the whole version, that, by their
joint labor, a more exact and faithful translation might be exhibited
in the new impression.
Mr. Francis in another place remarks that the Indian Bible has
become one of those rare books which the antiquarian deems it a
treasure to possess. It has acquired the venerable appearance of an
ancient and sealed book, and when we turn over its pages, those
long and harsh words seem like the mysterious hieroglyphics in some
time-honored temple of old Egypt.
" It failed to answer the pious purpose for which the translator
labored in preparing it. But it has answered another purpose, which
was, perhaps, never in his mind, or, if it were, was doubtless consid-
ered as of inferior importance. In connection with his Indian gram-
mar, it has afforded important aid as a valuable document in the study
of comparative philology. Though the language in which it is printed
is no longer read, yet this book is prized as one of the means of gain-
ino- an insight into the structure and character of ' unwritten dialects
of barbarous nations,' a subject which of late years has attracted the
attention of learned men, and the study of which it is believed will
furnish new facts to modify the hitherto received principles of univer-
sal grammar. On this account scholars of the highest name in mod-
ern times have had reason to thank Eliot for labors which the In-
dians are not left to thank him for. While the cause of rehgion
missed in a great degree the benefit designed for it, the science of
language acknowledges a contribution to its stores. Mr. Eliot trans-
lated the Bible into a dialect of what is called the Mohegan tongue,
a language spoken by all the New England Indians, essentially
the same, but varied by different dialects among the several tribes.
By Eliot, and others, it was called the Massachusetts language.
HISTORY OF IMATICK. 59
There is, beside, a moral aspect in -vvMch this translation should be
viewed. It must be regarded as a monument of painstaking love to
the soul of man, and of laborious piety. Would the translator
have had the spirit to undertake, still more the perseverance to cany
through, a work so wearisome and discouraging, had he not been an-
imated by the deep, steady, strong principle of devotedness to God
and to the highest good of his fellow men ? The theological scholar
who translates the Bible, or even one of the Testaments, from the
original into his vernacular tongue, is considered as having achieved
a great task, and as having given ample proof of his diligence. Yet
such a work is easy, compared Avith the work which Eliot undertook
and finished amidst a press of other employments, which alone might
have been deemed sufficient to satisfy the demands of Christian in-
dustry."
Among the many remarkable doings of the apostle to the Indians,
this bears the most striking testimony to his capacity of resolute en-
durance in the cause of man's spiritual welfare. We justly admire
the moral courage, the spirit of self-sacrifice which sustained him in
the tasks of preaching, visiting and instruction, never deterred by the
dark squalidness of barbarity, never daunted by the fierce threats of
men who knew no law but their passions, never moved by exposure
to storms, cold, and the various forms of physical suffering. But
when we represent him to our minds as laboring in his translation of
the Scripture in the silence of his study, year after year, in the fresh-
ness of the morning hour and by the taper of midnight, wearied but
not disheartened ; continually perplexed with the almost unmanage-
able phraseology of the dialect of the barbarians, yet always patient
to discover how it might be made to represent truly the meaning of
the sacred books ; doing this chapter by chapter, verse by verse,
without a wish to give over the toil ; cherishing for a long time only
a faint hope of publication, yet still willing to believe that God in his
good providence would finally send the means of giving the printed
Word of Life to those for whom he toiled and prayed — we cannot but
feel that we witness a more trying task, a more surprising labor, than
any presented by the stirring and active duties of his ministry among
the Indians. It was a long, heavy, hard work, wrought out by the
silent but wasting efforts of mental toil, and relieved by no immedi-
ately animating excitement. It was truly a labor of love. When we
take that old, dark volume into our hands, we understand not the
60 HISTORY OF NATICK.
words in which it is written, but it has another and beautiful mean-
ing, which we do understand. It is a symbol of the affection which
a devoted man cherished for the souls of his fellow men. It is the
expression of the benevolence which fainted in no effort to give light
to those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death ; and so it
remains, and will ever remain a venerable manifestation of the power
of spiritual truth and sympathy.
The second edition of the translation was the best, and the printer
will never again be called to set types for those words so strange, nor
will there, in all after time, probably, be a person in the world who
can read the book.
Cotton Mather tells us that the anagram of Eliot's name was Toile,
and the conceit has the merit of expressing truly one of the chief
traits in the apostle's character.
" His youth was innocent : his riper age
Marked -nith some act of goodness every day ;
And watched by eyes that loved him, cahn and sage
Faded his late declining years away.
Cheerful he gave his being up, and went
To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent."
We have seen, in the civil history of the town, Natick chosen as,
in the opinion of Mr. Eliot, the most eligible spot for planting an In-
dian town ; we have seen the streets laid out, the houses and bridges
built, and a civil government adopted for the guidance of the infant
settlement.
After so much had been accomplished a meeting-house was erected
and a church gathered.
The following is the simple covenant entered into by the Indians.
It will be seen to consist of a declaration of belief, and an agreement
with God and each other :
" We are the sons of Adam. We and our forefathers have a long
time been lost in our sins ; but now the mercy of the Lord beginneth
.to find us out again ; therefore, the grace of Christ helping us, we
do give up ourselves and our children unto God, to be his people ; He
shall rule us in all our affairs: The Lord is our judge, the Lord is
our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us ; the wisdom
which he taught us in His book shall guide us. ! Jehovah, teach
us wisdom, send thy spirit into our hearts ; take us to be thy people ;
and let us take thee to be our God."
HISTORY OF NATICK. 61
Twenty years after the formation of this church, it contained forty
or fifty communicants. In 1721, -when Mr. Peabody came to town,
there were no traces of it to be found. In the records of his church
is the following note from his pen : " It must be observed that, after
the most diligent search and inquiry, I can find no records of any-
thing referring to the former church in Natick, nor who -were the
members of it, or baptized, till my coming to town." The history,
then, of this first church, cannot be of greater than sixty-five years
in extent.
Although very few incidents relating to the church have come
down to us, still, from a knowledge of the times and circumstances in
which it had its being, we may know very well the principal events
attending it.
We know the anxious care Jiliot bestowed upon it. We know
that, for forty years after its formation, he lived within fifteen miles
of its location, and ever considered it his principal and most interest-
ing church.
We can hear his fearless reply to the sachems who opposed him :
" I am about the work of the great God ; and my God is with me, so
that I fear neither you nor all the sachems in the country. I will
go on, and do you touch me if you dare." We can see him each
successive fortnight wending his way on horseback to his church, and
hear the welcome that greeted his coming.
We know that when King Philip's war broke out in 1675, and the
praying Indians were generally viewed with jealousy, Mr. Eliot was
their steadfast friend. We see him intercepting the captive Indians
at " the Pines," in Watertown, when they were on their way to their
island prison, and consoling thefla. He repeatedly petitioned the
General Court for their relief in matters pertaining to their lands,
and we have reason to believe that not until a number of years after
his death were the members of his church dispersed.
Mr. Eliot was often assisted in his labors by his son. His imme-
diate successor was Daniel Takawampait, whose gravestone is still
at South Natick, and who, by the testimony of Daniel Gookin, was
" a person of good knowledge."
Oliver Peabody was the first settled minister of Natick. He was
born in the town of Boxford, Essex county. Commonwealth of Mas-
sachusetts, in the year 1698. At the age of two years he was be-
reaved of his father, and the care of his early education devolved on
62 HISTORY OF NATICK.
his pious motlier, Avho was not inattentive to the importance of her
char^-e. The youth was early made sensible that religion was the one
thine needful. The deep interest he felt in the cause of the Re-
deemer led him to seek an education that would best prepare him for
future usefulness, and accordingly he entered Harvard College in
171T, and was graduated in 1721, in the twenty-third year of his
age. He delivered his first sermon atNatick, August 6, 1721.
Immediately after he was graduated, the committee of the Board
of Commissioners for Propagating the Gospel in New England re-
quested him to be ordained as an evangelist, and to carry the news
of salvation to the heathen. This committee consisted of Honorable
Adam Winthrop, Edward Hutchinson, Esquire, and another from the
corporation of Harvard College.
This was the time when the French were active in stimulating the
Indians to commence hostilities against the English, and for this pur-
pose furnished them with provisions and warlike implements. The
consequent apprehensions of an Indian war led many candidates, it
is said not less than eleven, to whom the commissioners had made ap-
plication, to decline the offer. But such was Mr. Peabody's zeal in
the cause of his Master, that he did not hesitate to enter on a mis-
sion, though he was subject to the will of his employers and knew not
the place of his destination, but expected to be sent to a remote dis-
tance into the wilderness.
As the commissioners concluded to send him to Natick, a place
surrounded with settled ministers, and in the vicinity of the society
that employed him, they did not immediately ordain him, but sent
him to perform missionary service till circumstances should render
his ordination expedient. At that time there were but two white
families in town, though several other families soon removed thither.
Thomas Sawin, who lived where his descendants now reside, was the
first white family. David Morse, who built where Mrs. Gannett's
house now stands, was the second, Jonathan Carver built on the
island to the right of Dover street, for the third, and the fourth is
supposed to be a house on the site of the house now owned and occu-
pied by Mr. Luther H. Gleason, whose wife is a descendant of the
then owner, Mr. Eben Felch. Mr. Peabody preached constantly at
Natick till the close of the year 1729, when a committee from the
Board of Commissioners and from Harvard College were sent to Na-
tick to consider the expediency of settling a minister and embodying
HISTORY OF NATICK. 63
a church. The result was that it would be best to embody a church
partly of English and partly of Indians, and set Mr. P. over them in
the Lord.
The 3d of December was set apart as a day of fasting and prayer,
when Mr. Baxter, of Medfield, preached, and embodied a church,
consisting of three Indians and five white persons. On the 19th of
the same month Mr. P. was ordained at Cambridge a missionary to
take the pastoral care of the church and people at Natick.
About two years after Mr. Peabody came to Natick, he married
Miss Hannah Baxter, daughter of Rev. Joseph Baxter, of Medfield,
a lady distinguished by her piety and good sense, by whom he had
twelve children, eight of whom lived to years of discretion. The
oldest son bore his father's name, and was ordained pastor over the
First Church in Roxbury (then Newton), in November, 1750, and
died in May, 1752. The other two sons died when they were about
thirty, but the five daughters all lived to a good old age.
Though it was his grand object to bring the Indians by divine
grace, to the knowledge, service and enjoyment of God, yet he found
it an object worthy of great attention to induce them to abandon their
savage mode of living, and to make advances in husbandry and civiliza-
tion ; and so great a change was effected in their pursuits and man-
ners, that he lived to see many of the Indian families enjoying com-
fortable habitations, cultivated fields, flourishing orchards, and their
manners greatly improved.
He embraced the religious principles of our Puritanic fathers, and
left abundant testimony in his publications and manuscripts, that he
had not so learned Christ as to make the precepts of the "Gospel bend
to suit the vices of men. He was bold and zealous in the cause of
truth, but his zeal was not that of an enthusiast. It was an ardent
desire to promote the glory of God and the best good of his fellow
men. By his exertions many of them were taught to read and write,
as well as understand, the English language.
To such a pitch of refinement had some of them arrived, that when
Mr. Moody, from York, Maine, preached to them in Natick, and
used low expressions for the sake of being understood by them, they
observed that if Mr. Peabody should preach in such low language
they should think him crazy and leave the meeting-house.
The Indians, at the time of Mr. Peabody's coming to reside among
them, were much addicted to intemperance ; and he took great pains
64 lilSTORY OF NATICK.
to suppress this ruinous vice, and not -without success. Guardians
were placed over them, and they became more peaceable, industrious,
and attentive to religious order.
Twenty-two persons were added to the church the first year after
his ordination, a number of whom were Indians.
In a letter to a convention of ministers in 1743, he observes : —
" Among my people (I would mention it to the glory of the rich
grace and the blessed Spirit of God), there have been very apparent
strivings and operations of the Holy Ghost among English and In-
dians, young and old, male and female. There have been added to
our church, of such as I hope shall be saved, about fifty persons, whose
lives, in'general, witness to the sincerity of their professions." Dur-
ing his ministry 191 Indians and 422 English were baptized. During
the same period 35 Indians and 130 white persons were admitted
into his church ; 256 Indians died, one of whom arrived at the age
of 110 years. Though naturally of a slender and delicate constite-
tion, he consented to go on a mission to the Mohegan tribe of In-
dians, but the fatigues he endured in the undertaking so impaired
his health that it never was perfectly restored. He lived several
years after, but at length fell into a decline, in which he lingered till
Lord's day, February 2, 1752, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.
He died with Christian triumph immediately after uttering the words
of the heroic apostle, " I have fought a good fight, I have finished
my coui'se, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
give m^e in that day."
In his last sickness the Indians expressed great anxiety for his
health and happiness, and tendered him every service in their power.
At his death they mourned as for a parent. His widow was after-
wards married to Deacon Eliot, of Boston.
Two printed sermons of Mr. Peabody's are extant, viz. : An Ar-
tillery Election Sermon, and one entitled, " The Foundations, Effects,
and distinguishing Properties of a good and bad hope of Salvation,
with Motives to excite all to labor and pray, that they may obtain a
well-grounded Hope, and some Directions how to obtain it. Consid-
ered in a sermon, the substance of which was delivered at the evenino'
lecture at the new North Church in Boston, on Tuesday, June 8,
1742."
A few introductory passages from this sermon will exhibit a fair
specimen of the authoi^'s style :
HISTORY OF NATICK. 65
" Psalm 119 : 116. ' Let me not be ashamed of my hope.' As
hope and fear are the two governing passions of the soul which ex-
cite us to action, so it is of concern to us to know how to improve
them so as to promote our happiness ; and as we should improve our
fears of the wrath of God and eternal torment so as to quicken us
to flee from the wrath to come, and to fly to the refuge to lay
hold on the hope set before us in Christ Jesus, so we should use our
hope with a view to this great end.
It is greatly to be feared that many have such a slender and
sandy foundation for their hope, that when they shall expect that
they are just entering into the possession and enjoyment of what
they hoped for, they shall find themselves mistaken and disappointed ;
which is what the Psalmist deprecates in our text.
Although he may in this have some reference to his hopes of out-
ward good things agreeably to the promise of God to him, yet it ap-
pears to me that he has respect especially to future and eternal things
in this pathetic prayer, — ' Let me not be ashamed of ray hope.' "
Although no mention is made of the dissolution of Mr. Peabody's
church, yet it is evident that it was dissolved, as will appear as we
proceed in the history. In a communication to the Massachusetts
Historical Society, Mr. Badger, who was, for forty-five years suc-
ceeding that on v/hich Mr. Peabody died, the minister of Natick,
says : " Immediately previous to my settlement in this place a church
was gathered, which consisted partly of English and partly of Indians."
Stephen Badger was born in Charlestown, A. D. 1725, of humble
parentage, as is indicated by his name being placed last in this class
in the college catalogues, at a time when the scholars were arranged
according to the real or supposed dignity of the parents.
lie was graduated at Harvard College in 1749. On the 27th
of March, 1753, he was ordained by the Commissioners for Prop-
agating the Gospel in New England, as a missionary over the
Indians at Natick. The English inhabitants united with the Indians
and added to his salary <£19 6s. 8d., about $92. He closed
his public services in July, 1799, and died Aug. 28, 1803, aged 78.
Mr. Badger, whose ministry was more than twice the length of
any other, extending through nearly one-fourth of the whole history
of the town, is still remembered by many persons Uving in town, who
universally speak of him as a great and good man. I cannot describe
5
66 HISTORY OF NATICK.
him as he is remembered so well in any other way, as by quoting
the words of the late William Bigelow, who knew him well and
frequently attended on his ministry.
In stature Mr. Badger did not exceed the middle height ; his person
was firm and well formed ; his manners dignified and polished, and
his countenance intelligent and pleasing. His conversation in mixed
company was entertaining and instructive. His public performances
gave ample proof of a mind vigorous, acute, and well informed.
His sermons were mostly practical ; free from the pedantic, techni-
cal terms of school divinity, uttered at full length, and read without
any attempts at oratory. His prayers did not contain so great a
variety of exj)ression as those of many others, but they were perti-
nent and clothed mostly in the language of Scripture. He observed
that whatever of correctness or purity of style he was master of, he
was indebted to the Spectator of Addison ; and his performances
proved that he had profited not a little by " giving his days and
nights " to that immortal production. Had he been set on a more
conspicuous candlestick, his light would undoubtedly have shone
extensively, brilliantly, and powerfully.
Mr. B.'s religious sentiments in general agreed with those of Ar-
minius, but he called no man master on earth. He had neither so
high an opinion of human nature as some have advocated, nor so low
a one as has been embraced by others. He considered man not ex-
alted in the scale of being to a rank so elevated as the celestial in-
telligences, nor degraded to so depraved a condition as infernal
spirits, but maintained that he occupied a grade between the two at
a considerable distance from either.
He contended that by the right use of the means of grace, a per-
son may become fitted for the company of the former, and that by
the neglect or abuse of these means, he must be qualified only for
the society of the latter.
He taught that love to God and man is the essence of religion ;
and that a sober, righteous and godly life is at once the fruit of this
love, and the evidence that it is shed abroad in the heart. He con-
sidered the second commandment, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself," like unto the first, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, " as being equally essential to present and future
happiness. No one, he would observe, can be profitable to God by
his best devotional services, but he who may be profitable to himself.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 67
and bis fellow-men, by being a Tvorker together with God in the pro-
motion of human fehcitj, and this working together with God is the
best proof that we love him. Hence he affirmed constantly that
they who have believed in God, should be careful to maintain good
works. He held, with Paul, that by the deeds of the ceremonial law
no flesh living can be justified, and with James, that faith, without the
works of the moral law, is dead. To enkindle and increase the love
of piety and virtue in the soul, was the end and aim of all his prayers,
his preaching, and his practice.
He could discern the wisdom and even goodness of Deity in per-
mitting so many denominations to exist in the Christian world, differ-
ing in articles of faith and modes of worship, as it gives the best pos-
sible opportunity for the exercise of that charity which the inspired
apostle declares to be greater than either faith or hope. This char-
ity he extended to all, whether they professed to be of Paul, or
Apollos, or Cephas, provided they gave' evidence in their life and
conversation that they were of Christ. He was ready always to
give a reason of the hope that was in him, but that he might not
give just cause of offence to others, he did it with meekness, and,
feeling his own liability to error, he did it with fear. But while he
was thus candid towards others, he demanded a like return of candor
from them.
If any accused him or any other respectable minister of " leading
his flock blindfolded to hell, " he considered them as usurping the
judgment seat of Christ, who is appointed sole Judge of the quick and
the dead, as guilty of judging another man's servant, and of judging
before the time ; and he shuddered at their impious temerity. In
short, he exercised more charity towards everything else than un-
charitableness.
Like Paul before Pelix he reasoned of the personal, social, and re-
ligious duties, esteeming it as absurd to preach to rational beings and
yet deny them the use of their reason, as it would be to preach to
those animals which are created without this distinguishing gift. He
never adopted the maxim : " I believe it because it is impossible ; "
but he embraced Christianity because he considered it a reasonable
system, and he allowed that, if it were not so, we should have no
reason to believe it. He did not degrade this godlike endowment
by calling it carnal reason, as those are apt to do who wish to estab-
lish an unreasonable doctrine, but insisted that the inspiration of the
68 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Bible hath given us understanding,' and that every one is account-
able to the Giver for the use or abuse of it.
If any told him that they knew positively by their own feelings,
that they had the Holy Spirit witnessing with their spirit, that their
system of belief was certainly the right and true one, and his as cer-
tainly false and dangerous, he would reply that our feelings, when
uncontrolled by reason and common sense, are extremely liable to
lead us into error and spiritual pride. Though he felt it his duty to
oppose what he deemed to be errors in opinion, yet he considered it
to be of vastly higher importance to correct deviations in practice ;
as he thought the former would much more readily be forgiven by
our final Judge than the latter.
Mr. B. has been accused of having been of an irritable temper.
If this were true, it must be acknowledged that such were the trials
that awaited him he must have possessed more of the Christian or the
stoic than generally falls to the lot of men, to have been otherwise.
It has been said by his opposers that he was a Universalist. On
this point he shall speak for himself; for though dead, he yet speak-
eth, in his discourses on drunkenness, from which the following passage
is extracted :
" Both reason and the word of God lead us to fear, if not conclude,
(if we can come to any reason at all about it,) that the case of the
habitual drunkard is hopeless, and his end inevitable misery and de-
struction.
And his being more exposed to be overtaken and cut off by the
hand of death in a drunken fit, should alarm and put him upon the
most serious consideration of the imminent danger he is in, when he
is overcharged with intoxicating liquors, and what account he will be
able to give of himself when summoned before the judgment seat of
Christ, by whom God will sentence him and the rest of mankind to
eternal happiness or misery, according to the state in which they are
found at the great day of his appearing."
While Mr. Badger urged the importance of good works, he did
not teach his people to depend on them alone for salvation, but in
sisted that by works faith was made perfect, and that man must be
saved by grace through such faith. This appeared particularly in his
prayers. He generally concluded the afternoon's service by repeat-
ing the Lord's Prayer, having prefaced it in some such manner as
the following : " Wilt thou enable us by thy grace to avoid every
HISTOKY OF NATICK. 69
known sin, to live in the habitual practice of every known duty, and,
when we have done all, may we consider ourselves as unprofitable
servants, and place our hopes of salvation on thy mercy declared
unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord, who died that we might live,
who rose from the dead for our justification, who hath ascended to
his Father and our Father, to his God and our God, where he ever
liveth to make intercession for us, and in whose perfect form of words
we conclude our public addresses unto thee at this time. ' Our
Father,' " &c.
It was said of him, as of the great and good Addison, by one who
was constantly with him in his last sickness and at the time of his
departure, that he died like a Christian philosopher.
Had Mr. B. lived in this age of self-created societies, it is easy for
those who knew him to conjecture which of them would have met his
most cordial approbation.
Temperance societies he would have pronounced a suitable foun-
dation for all the rest which have utility for their object, as life,
health, and the power of doing good in a great degree depend on
the practice of this virtue.
He would, however, not have them confined entirely to the abolition
of the use of ardent spirits, but extended to the immoderate use of
wine and every other liquor capable of producing intoxication. Even
strong tea and coffee he denominated strong drink, and deemed them
equally pernicious to the nervous system of their votaries and the
reputation of absent acquaintances. He furthermore agreed in
opinion with a celebrated physician, that " more dig their graves with
their teeth than with their tankards ; " in other words, more are de-
stroyed by gluttony than by drunkenness.
Bible societies for the dissemination of the Holy Scriptures in all
languages without note or comment would have met his most cordial
cooperation ; for these he ever insisted on as alone sufiicient for
every one who could peruse them, to enable them to gain all re-
ligious information necessary for present and future happiness.
Gamaliel societies he would probably have proposed for the sup-
pression of religious or rather irreligious controversy, recommending,
for a motto to the various Christian denominations, the following pas-
sage to be observed by each sect towards all the rest, " Refrain from
those men and let them alone : for if this counsel or this work be of
70 ' HISTORY OF NATICK.
men, it will come to naught ; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow
Jt, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." This he would
have done from a full persuasion that nothing tended so powerfully
to impede the progress of Christianity and promote the cause of in-
fidelity, as the bitter dissensions among Christians about articles of
faith and modes of worship ; about the mere theory of religion while
the practice was sadly neglected.
Peace societies he would have regarded as of prime importance,
for he could not conceive of a more wretched comment on that re-
ligion which proclaims " peace on earth and good-will to men, " than
for its professors to be frequently embroiled in bloody wars, not only
with infidel nations, but with each other, and often on most trivial pre-
tences.
Societies for the prevention and abolition of slavery, would have
met his most hearty approbation and support, for he was a strenuous
advocate for freedom of mind and body, both in church and state.
Societies for promoting morality and piety among seamen, he
would have considered as of incalculable importance to give unchris-
tianized nations a favorable opinion of our holy religion when they
should see our mariners who should visit them obeying the divine
precepts of the Gospel in all their transactions.
He would have said that all these societies must have a general
and powerful influence on the character of Christians before very
exalted hopes of success could justly be entertained from the exer-
tions of societies for the promotion of foreign missions.
Societies for the improvement of agriculture he would have been
delighted to encourage ; for on his own little farm he set an example
of neatness and good husbandry, which was imitated by few of his
parishioners, and equalled by none.
In fine, every society which adopted judicious measures for the en-
couragement of the useful arts and sciences, and for the promotion of
pure morality and real piety, would have been accompanied by his
fervent prayers and strenuous exertions for their success.
Mr. Badger was twice married. His first wife was Mrs. Abigail
Hill, of Cambridge, who presented him with seven children. Five
of these died in early life. One of the others was the first consort of
Rev. Mr. Greenough, of Newton.
Mr. Badger never caused any monument to be erected to the
HISTORY OF NATICK. 71
memory of his departed relatives. After his decease, his grave and
those of his family Avere enclosed with a picket fence, and a stone was
placed at one end bearing the following inscription :
Deposited in this enclosure
are the remains of
Rev. Stephen Badger.
He was chosen by the Commissioners
for Propagating the Gospel in New England,
and ordained as a missionaiy over the Indians in
Natick, March 27, 1753 ; died Aug. 28, 1803, set 78.
Mrs. Abigail Badger, his consort, died Aug. 13, 1782, set
59, and five children ; also Mr. Stephen Badger, Sec.,
died June 19, 1774, set 80. As a tribute of affec-
tionate respect this stone is here placed.
" While memory fond each vii-tue shall revere."
The following is a list of the publications of Rev. Mr. Badger :
1. Several essays on Electricity, printed in the Cambridge Sentinel
soon after the establishment of this paper in Boston. In these
he offers the conjecture that by drawing the electric fluid from the
clouds by rods, the necessary quantity of rain may be prevented
from falling. 2. A Letter from a Pastor to his People, opposing the
requiring of a confession of particular transgressions in order for ad-
mission to church fellowship. 3. Letter to the Secretary of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society. 4. Two discourses on Drunkenness,
printed in 1774, and again re-printed in 1829, by the Society for
the Suppression of Vice and Intemperance. .
CHAPTER YI.
Location of the Meeting House. First Meeting House. History of Society.
Funds. Settlement of Rev. Freeman Sears. List of its Ministers.
List of persons tvho have held the office of Deacon in town. Bio-
graphical notice of Sears. Fourth of July Oration. Sickness and
Death.
The church of which Mr. Badger was so long the minister was
dissolved at his death. The next church embodied was at the cen-
tre, and the one which bears the name of the First' Congregational
Church and Society. By that name has it been incorporated by
the Legislature and funds secured to it arising from the sale of lands
granted by the Indians to Oliver Peabody and his successors in the
ministry at Natick for the support of Gospel preaching. It has had
a longer existence than any other, has received more persons into it
as members, and at this time is the largest in town. It now has
settled over it its fifth pastor. The following is a list of its ministers :
1. Rev. Freeman Sears, ordained Jan. 1,1806; died June 30,
1811. 2. Martin Moore, ordained Feb. 16, 1814, dismissed Aug.
7, 1833. 3. Erasmus D. Moore, ordained Nov. 6, 1833, dismissed
April, 1838. 4. Samuel Hunt, ordained July 17, 1839, dismissed
May 22, 1850. 5. Elias Nason, ordained May 5, 1852. The
whole number of members received into this church since its first
organization until the present time is 360, of which number 165 are
still in connection with it. The church now numbers 172 members.
The following is a list of those who have held the oflSce of deacon
in town :
Joseph Ephraim, Ebenezer Felch, Nathaniel Chickering, Micah
Whitney, John Jones, Nathaniel Mann, Abel Perry, William Good-
now, Oliver Bacon, William CooUdge, Samuel Fisk, John Travis
Willard A. Wight, John 0. Wilson. John J. Perry, Isaac B. Clark.
This church organized in 1802 and consisted of twenty-three mem-
bers. Freeman Sears was the first minister ordained in the central
meeting-house. From a sermon delivered in Needham, by Rev. Mr.
Palmer, his contemporary and friend, we extract the following notice
of him :
HISTORY OF NATICK. 73
" He was born in Harwich, in the county of Barnstable, Nov. 28,
1779. At the age of seventeen, he moved with his parents to Ash-
field, in the county of Hampshire. About this time his mind became
seriously impressed by a sense of his danger while destitute of an
interest in Christ, and in the course of this year he was enabled to taste
and see that the Lord is gracious. In the winter of the following
year he taught school in Ashfield, and such were the serious impres-
sions upon his mind that his youthful diffidence did not prevent him
from praying morning and evening at his school. At the age of
nineteen he was called to part with an elder brother. Under this
affecting bereavement he was calm and composed, and prayed with
his brother in his last moments. In the year 1800, a little before
he was twenty-one years of age, he entered Williams College, and
was graduated there in 1804. April 10, 1805, he was licensed to
preach ; and January 1, 1806, he was ordained pastor of the church
and society in Natick.
Though he had a weak and slender constitution, yet he was ena-
bled, in general, to perform the duties of his pastoral office till the
latter part of the year 1810, when his health became essentially
impaired. His complaints were consumptive, and began to assume
an alarming aspect. In this critical situation his physicians ad-
vised him to go to a warmer climate as the only probable means of
recovery.
Accordingly in the month of December he sailed for Savannah,
in Georgia, where he arrived and spent the following winter. During
his absence from his family he found many kind and generous friends
who administered to his necessities. He was a stranger, and they
took him in ; sick, and they visited him.
Their acts of kindness made a grateful impression on his mind.
But though these kind attentions were soothing to his feelings, yet
his health was not restored, but seemed to decline. Still, however,
he indulged the hope that he should be able to return to his family
and friends, whom he wished again to see.
Accordingly about the first of April he left Savannah with a view
of revisiting his distant home, and concluded to return by land. He
was weak and debilitated, and the journey was long and fatiguing.
But through divine goodness he was enabled to accomplish his object,
and on the 2d of June he arrived at Natick.
He was now in a very low and reduced sta From his extreme
74 HISTORY or NATICK.
debilitated and emaciated appearance it was matter of surprise to his
friends, that he should be able to complete his journey. After his
return he continued gradually to languish till the 30th of June,
■when he expired. On the 3d of July, his remains were respect-
fully interred at Natick, at which time a sermon adapted to the occa-
sion was deHvered by Rev. Dr. Bates, of Dedham."
The following is extracted from the notice of him by Rev. Mr.
Palmer, of jSTeedham :
" He died in the thirty-third year of his age and sixth of his min-
istry. This was not only an affecting loss to his family and people,
6ut to the public. His talents were respectable, his elocution was
pleasing, and from early life he was exemplary and distinguished for
his piety. He was however permitted to remain but a little while in
the vineyard of Christ, before he was called, in the judgment of
charity, to receive the reward, not of a long, but useful life. From
the bright prospect that he had of entering at so early an hour into
the joy of his Lord, the language of his departure seemed to be
' Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves
and your children.' Not only for ourselves and our children, but for
the interests of Zion we then had and still have occasion to weep.
He was dear to me, and in a feeling manner I am still constrained to
say, 'Alas ! my brother.' "
The following is believed to be the only production of his pen
which survives him ; and although it was not a professional perform-
ance, yet as it possesses throughout the spirit of Christianity, and
carries us back to the manner of celebrating the nation's birthday at
the commencement of the present century, it is thought not to be out
of place in the ecclesiastical history of this town. It deserves to be
preserved, not only as presenting an example of the style of Mr.
Sears, but for its intrinsic merit as presenting true ideas of the nature
of our government and of the duties of the American citizen and
soldier. Citizens still living well remember the occasion on which it
was delivered. The officers of the regiment were present, and the
military company in uniform, the tunes played by the band, as early
in the morning they escorted the company along the Common, and
the song sung by the choir :
" Hail to the morning, the day-star of glory !
Hail to the banners by freedom unfurled !
Thrice hail the victors, the freemen of story,
Liberty's boast and the pride of the world ! "
HISTORY OF NATICK, 75
. ORATION.
Next to the concerns of eternity the interests and prosperity of our
country demand attention. The speaker to-day must descend from
subjects of the first to those of a secondary nature, and witness, ye
walls and thou sacred desk, that nothing be suggested, nothing be
transacted incompatible with the Christian character. The leading
subjects of this day then will be finite subjects, but they are suffi-
ciently large to fill finite minds. View an extensive country of
upwards a thousand miles square. See this large territory over-
spread with at least six millions of human beings, all pleading the
rights and privileges of men, all desirous of personal happiness and
freedom, and you are presented with subjects of no small magnitude.
Fellow citizens, let our reflections be profitable, seasoned with
decency and gratitude suitable to the occasion on which we have
convened. In aiding your thoughts relative to the concerns of our
country, I purpose in some measure to forget the things that are
behind, and look forward to those Avhich are before. The rise and
progress of our country, the unparalleled conflicts of our fathers, the
unwarrantable subjugation of these colonies, the breaking asunder of
the British yoke, and the declaration of the independence of America
present a noble and pleasing theme. But though less pleasing, it
may be more profitable to inquire in what our independence consists,
and how it may be transmitted to the latest posterity. To review
our national afiairsfrom 1776 to 1809 would create in the breasts of
men different emotions, and present to the eye of the beholder a
checkered scene. The hand of time has passed over them. They
are marked for the historian's page, and there for the present we shall
let them rest. Something more important commands our attention
than either to comment or animadvert upon past scenes. The present
and future glory of our country, the equitable form of government
under which we live, and the transmitting this invaluable legacy to
generations yet unborn are no mean, no puerile subjects. Be this
then our theme, — A brief account of the government under which
we live, and how this may be preserved and handed down inviolate
to posterity.
On this day of general independence, and in the prosecution
of this subject, the speaker wishes to indulge a suitable degree of
76 HISTORY OF NATICK.
independence himself. Not that he feels disposed to wound either of
the contending parties, unless they voluntarily step into his way to
impede his course. "While pursuing the subject in hand, he wishes,
to pass over the whimsical poUtics of the day, as you would pass over
the dust in the street when in pursuit of a rich pearl. That some
kind of government is necessary in this fallen world, experience and
facts demonstrate ; to attempt to live without it might be pleasing in
theory, but horrible in practice. The great query then is. What gov-
ernment is best ? The answer is at hand. That which will afford the
greatest degree of liberty, and at the same time effectually guard
life, character, property and order.
All power, whether in despotic, aristocratical or republican gov-
ernments, is originally vested in the people. They, naturally, are
the executive, legislative and judiciary authority. All men come
into the world equal upon the footing of natural rights. Notwith-
standing this, individuals may act in a legislative capacity, and their
transactions be binding on generations to come. The two great
extremes of government are those of perfect despotism and complete
democracy. The former supposes the individuals to have given up
all their natural rights into the hands of one man, whose will is ever to
constitute their law ; the latter, is where the people retain all their
natural rights, and have given none of them to any man or set of
men. A mean between these two extremes is the government of
America, approximating, perhaps, nearer the latter than the former.
Part of our national rights we give to individuals, for a limited time,
for one, two, four and six years ; at the expiration of which periods
we come in possession of them again, and as before are at liberty to
give them to whom we will, provided the person or persons possess
certain general qualifications. These men thus elected by the
majority of suffrages, are vested with the supreme authority of the
land for the time being. They are, however, in no case, to act
repugnant to the Federal Constitution, which has been adopted and
sanctioned by at least seven-eighths of the nation. When intrusted
with the helm of government, they are not authorized to shape their
course wheresoever their fanciful notions dictate, but invariably to
steer the political ship by this national chart. If, in pursuing stead-
fastly this course, they providentially dash the ship in pieces, they
ought not, they cannot be blamed. But if, in trying experiments
repugnant to the Constitution, they make shipwreck of our liberties,
the curse of millions may justly come upon them-
HISTORY OF NATICK. 77
Our national government consists of three independent branches,
all props and helps to each other, all designed to support the fabric.
•It may properly be called a Federal Republican Government. The
first of these terms aptly represents the condition of the States. Our
national constitution is denominated the Federal Constitution, because
it unites in one compact body a number of smaller bodies ; like the
planets in the solar system, all complete in themselves, yet subject
harmoniously to revolve around their common centres.
The term republican is significant of our right of election, liberty
of acting for ourselves. It supposes every citizen possessing the sum
of <£60, whatever his profession or occupation in life may be, at per-
fect liberty to act for himself in the choice of men to rule over him.
Whoever shall attempt to deprive an individual or any class of legal
citizens of the right of suffrage, may justly be considered defective in
his republican principles.
The government of America, though it may not be perfect, is
undoubtedly the best now in the world. Various have been the forms
of republican government heretofore, but none of them exactly upon
our plans. Whether ours, on the whole, will prove better than theirs,
time alone must determine.
The gazing world is now looking to America to see whether she
will maintain her liberties. So long as this is the case the kingdoms
of Europe will envy our happiness ; but should we, like the republics
of old, fall into the gulf of anarchy or despotism, they will laugh at
our folly. At present, fellow citizens, we possess an admirable form
of government, — a government which unites energy with mildness,
liberty with security, and freedom with order : one friendly to the
arts and sciences, to the accumulation of property, and the enlarge-
ment of the human mind ; — a government designed to reward genu-
ine merit, wherever found, by the richest of her gifts.
Such is the independence we celebrate ; such are the liberties pur-
chased with the price of blood. Americans, are they worth preserv-
ing ? if so, you will lay aside your prejudices and carefully attend
to the necessary requisitions.
How shall the rights, liberties and independence of America be
transmitted to future generations ? A question noble in itself,
deserving the attention of every statesman and patriot. We shall
now present a number of props without which this beautiful
fabric must fall, with which it may be supported.
78 HISTORY OF ^'ATICK.
Knowledge and information disseminated among the people is one
essential requisite to our preservation. The human mind unculti-
vated is prepared for nothing but either mean submission, or bloody,
revenue and hostilitv. The ignorant negroes of the South, mere
vassals of burden, at one time received the goad more patient than
the ox : at another, with anger flaming into rage, they rise and
massacre all their lords, — a just portrait of man in the rubbish of
nature. The uncivilized tribes of Africa, the barbarous Turks, the
uncultivated Tartars, in their present degraded state, could no more
adopt and preserve a republican government, than the vegetable
kingdom could arise and come to maturity without the light of the
sun. Instances might be cited to prove the fact. Experiments of
this kind have been tried, but they have ever proved abortive. Vain
and preposterous is it for us to dream of existing as an independent
republic, unless we pay special attention to the general diffusion of
knowledge. Gross ignorance and freedom were never formed for
companions ; they will not live together. Our youth should be early
taught the value of a well-cultivated mind, and our riper years ought
not to scorn the voice of instruction. Americans, what you give for
the education of your children is money at interest, for the benefit of
your country, the preservation of your liberties. Here, to their honor
be it spoken, some of the States, particularly those of Connecticut and
Massachusetts, have not been dilatory in their exertions. They
have, in some measure, paid that attention to the general diffusion of
knowledge, which its high importance in a political view demands.
Next to education we mention a free, open, and manly discussion
of all political subjects, as being highly conducive to the preservation
of our country. By this I do not mean newspaper slander, defama-
tion, or libelling of churches ; I do not mean the petty disputes of the
bar-room, or the fanatic resolves of caucuses. These, like so many
canker worms, are incessantly devouring the tree of liberty. But I
do mean that our national and state cabinets should ever be frank,
open and manly in all their deliberations, that every important sub-
ject may be scanned by sound argument and weighed by the whole
legislature in the balance of truth. Business which belongs to the
whole legislature ought not to be transacted by a few individuals in
secret conclave. The very idea of secrecy in public matters creates
jealously, and jealousy, you know, hath an inventive genius. She
can portray a hideous monster and imagine it real. In order to pre-
HISTORY or NA'llCK. 79
vent jealousy, surmises and hard speeches, let public business be
transacted in open day, and in the presence of all concerned. Rea-
son, good sense and sound argument, are the only sufficient weapons
to be used in a republican government. We may unsheathe the sword
to meet a foreign foe, but domestic armies ought, if possible, to be
conquered by sound argument. An appeal to arms for the purpose of
enforcing laws or quelling insurrections is very dangerous ; it may and
must be done when no other expedient will answer ; but never ought
it to be until the very last drop is exhausted from the cup of reconcilia-
tion. Whenever a people so pervert their reason as to sacrifice their
good sense and sound argument upon the shrine of passion and party
feeling, their liberties and independence are on the verge of destruc-
tion. Americans ! if wc will not be governed by good sense, we can-
not be governed in a republic. It is a melancholy truth* that men,
both in politics and religion, are often governed more by their feel-
ings than they are by reason and argument. Everything said and
done must be brought to the test of this governing principle, viz.,
inclination. Should they happen to agree with this, they pass cur-
rent ; otherwise, they are condemned as counterfeit. Let people
erect for their standard good sense, and we are ever ready to con-
verse with them. Till then, reasonable things are as liable to be
cast away, as those which are perfectly unreasonable. It is to be
expected in this fallible world that people of sense will see things in a
different light. It is nothing strange that our legislature should be
divided in opinion. What then ? Shall we load each other with infamy,
or, like the people of the Dark Ages, determine which is right by force
of arms, or by single combat ? No ; rather let us decide by the
sword of truth, reason, and argument. Let our legislature wield
these weapons, open, manly, and let the people judge which can han-
dle them best. Let the great body of the people carefully peruse
these debates, say less, think more, and at the proper time act wise.
Another preservative of a republican government is a strict and
prompt attention to all its laws.
We cannot expect to exist as an independent people unless Wc-
submit to the powers that be, and lend our aid to the support of law-
ful authority. Those laws that are injudicious and oppressive, must
be obeyed until they are repealed, and this redress must come through
the agency of the authority which imposes the grievance, or else we
subvert the government. Even those laws which are considered by
80 HISTORY OF NATICK.
some unconstitutional, must be observed until this unconstitutionality
is pointed out, and publicly declared by some authority adequate to
the purpose, else ^\'e open a door for individuals to object to any
law, however pacific or wise.
The speaker is not advocating mean submission to hostile and
unconstitutional laws, but he is advocating manly submission, the
American submission.
Again, order, virtue, and religion, constitute another prop to sup-
port a free government, the most essential of any that has been enu-
merated. Fellow citizens ! you have often heard that without reli-
gion a free government cannot long exist. This is no novel idea,
therefore the danger of not giving it its full weight. It is not my
business at present to speak of religion as it respects the salvation of
the country. There is a near and inseparable connection between
religion and government.
This sentiment is not a whimsical and sacrilegious notion of the
clergy, invented for bad and selfish purposes, but it is founded in the
very nature of things. Ye cannot overturn it unless ye overturn
the whole system of good sense and experience. With equal pro-
priety might we attempt to separate time from eternity, or man from
his Maker, as a republican government entirely from religion. Take
away the sacredness of an oath, all expectation of future rewards
and punishments, break up all religious order in towns and societies,
let it become a common sentiment " that death is an eternal sleep,"
that there is no God who takes cognizance of the conduct of men,
that it is no matter how people act if they can only escape human
tribunals, and you take away the very life and soul of a republic.
It falls as naturally as the body will when the breath is gone. The
most celebrated lawgivers, both of ancient and modern date, bear
testimony to this truth. Blackstone, Vattel and Priestley, in their
learned and admirable treaties on the general nature of government
say, that " virtue and religion are the bases of a republican
govenment."
Need there be any additional evidence to substantiate the proposi-
tion ? I turn you to the most famous republic of Athens, a city
celebrated for its philosophy and knowledge of the arts and sciences,
but depraved in heart and life, boldly denying the true God, which
was the procuring cause of its destruction.
But why go so far back when the same truth is demonstrated by
HISTORY OF NATICK. 81
a farcical and horrid scene recently passed before tlie eyes of the
world ? The scene is too much to the present purpose to escape un-
noticed. It presses itself upon us. Behold and tremble ! Soon after
the independence of America the kingdom of France caught the
flame of liberty. The fire spread from city to city, from heart to
heart. They erected the guillotine, slew all the royal family, from
the kins; on the throne to the smiling infant at the breast. Thousands
of her countrymen shared the same fate, till their blood crimsoned
the ground and nauseated the air. And why this unprecedented
effusion of her country's blood ? It was to open the door for the
millennium of freedom. Liberty and Equality became the burden of
their song. At length they were ready to adopt a republican
government. They collected the materials and reared the beautiful
fabric. But alas ! they forgot to put under the chief corner-stone.
Of course the fabric was no sooner reared than it tumbled in the dust.
As a nation they openly discarded all religion. Passing through
Brest and Paris, the most central cities in the country, you would
behold, posted up in capitals, this motto, " No priests, no religion, no
God ! " Turning the eye on the opposite posts you would see written,
in legible characters, " No God but liberty."
Infatuated people, thy liberty is gone ! — where now is thy God ?
I speak these facts, not to elate nor shame you, but as my own
countrymen, I warn you " Come not ye into her secrets, lest ye
partake of her plagues."
Americans ! would we preserve the admirable fabric which was
reared by our patriotic fathers we must not take away the chief
corner-stone, virtue and religion.
Gentlemen, officers, and soldiers of the militia, a part of the con
elusion belongs to you. I mourn with you at the recollection of
those lusts and passions from whence come wars and fightings. I
regret that general depravity which renders it necessary for you to
be clad in the habiliments of war. But as inhabitants of the world
we must meet the world as it is. We may wish it were better, and do
our endeavor to reform it, yet it is a duty we owe ourselves, our
families, our country and our God, to put ourselves in an attitude of
self-defence. Gentlemen, your commissions in the military department
of our government are honorable ; your stations rank high. In
your hands are deposited an important trust. It is you who must first
6
82 HISTORY OF NATICK.
hear the calls of our country, and take the j&rst rank in times of war
as well as in times of peace.
Your good sense will not suffer you to be elated in view of the im-
portance of your oiBces ; but, feeling your responsibility, you will
endeavor to fill them with dignity and fidelity.
You will make yourselves masters of the military art, and martial
your troops to the best advantage, that they may see you are worthy
the posts you hold. You will unite the energy of the officer with
the feelings of the soldier, that you may ever maintain discipline on
your parades, and at the same time not appear tyrannical. In
raising each other to posts of higher office, you will pay no attention
to party feelings, but be actuated solely from a sense of genuine merit.
Soldiers, so long as ye act in character, your rank is scarcely a
step in the rear of your commanding officers. You are as honorable
in obeying as they are in commanding. Though you might do but
little without them, they certainly could do nothing without you.
Let it ever be your ambition, while under arms, to act the soldier.
Equip yourselves like soldiers. Respect your officers, cheerfully
obey them. Let expression and not the tongue evince your martial
feelings. Li doing this you add dignity and worth to your charac-
ters ; you show yourselves worthy the name of an American soldier.
Officers and soldiers, . your stations are not incompatible with
the Christian character. Your equipments are not complete till you
put on the Christian armor. In addition to your other equipments,
permit me, in the language of an apostle, to exhort. Take to your
self the whole armor of God, having on the breastplate of righteous-
ness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Above all, take the shield of faith, whereby ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Thus
equipped you are prepared to fight the lawful battles of your
country. I pray God that none of your blood may ever be spilled
on the field of battle ; that the alarm of war may never echo this
side of the Atlantic. But ye are surrounded with bloody neighbors ;
neighbors that have drenched the plains of Europe, and crimsoned
the ocean with human blood. Lest they unexpectedly surprise you,
be ever on your watch. Never let the sword or the spear rest in
your hands, keep them habitually ready for actual engagement ; and
should the voice of war ever resound in our land, may the God of
armies protect you.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 83
Fellow citizens, you have an imperfect view of the government
under which we live. We have seen the props necessary for its
support.
Others might be educed, but they are all summarily comprised
in the four that have been named, — education, frank and reason-
able discussion, observance of laws, and religion. Once more take
a view of the fabric standing upon these four pillars. The fabric is
good, we all agree, but what say you to the foundation ? Are all the
pjillars sound, or are they defective ? As an individual I confess to
you I tremble when I see on what my country rests. I fear the
perpetuity of our government ; and though I should be accused of
treason, I cannot, I dare not suppress it. When I see the founda-
tion taken from a building, I know, as sure as matter will gravitate
towards the centre, that building must fall Not that the foundation
is as yet entirely taken from our government. No ; some of the
pillars stand unimpaired. Time, instead of mouldering, seems to in-
vigorate. Education flourishes ; laws are generally observed ;
mutinies and insurrections are unpopular with the judicious of all
parties ; but others, particularly those of good sense and religious
order, are defective. There is a very great proneness in people to
believe what they desire, upon the slightest evidence, and to reject
what they do not relish, even in the face of demonstration. I only
ask gentlemen to open their eyes, and look at the state of religion
and morals in our country, and then say if such fears are perfectly
groundless.
The unhappy political divisions in our country are truly alarming.
No house, no nation can be strong when it is nearly equally
" divided against itself." We do not Avish to indulge a needless
timidity, and torment ourselves before the time ; nor would we be so
stupid and heedless to the future as to see the breaches and not give
the alarm. We would not lull the people to sleep crying, " Peace,
peace," when sudden destruction awaits us. If we will suffer party
feeling to usurp the throne of reason, and licentiousness to occupy
the place of virtue, without the spirit of prophecy we may predict
the downfall of our country, and bid a long farewell to American in-
dependence ! But is there no alternative, no hope in our case ?
Yes, I rejoice with you, fellow citizens, that this anniversary ushers in
a brighter morning than the last. May it continue with increasing
lustre unto the perfect day. Our difficulties with foreign powers are
84 HISTORY OF NATICK.
in some measure adjusted. Our flag once more traverses the ocean,
and a door seems to be open for greater union among ourselves.
The God of heaven is giving us another trial, to see -whether Ave "will
preserve our independence, or prostrate our liberties upon the shrine
of passion. Americans, it is time to cease domestic hostilities.
Party spirit has reigned long enough ; some of the nobler feelings of
the soul ought to be promoted and encouraged. Let us return and
unite in the good old principles of our fathers, both as it respects
politics and religion. Let party names be forgotten and lost in the
better name of true American.
Doubtless we have our Catalines -who are lurking in ambush to
give the fatal blow, and want nothing but a convenient opportunity
to assassinate the republic. Yet- we fondly hope the number of
Ciceros are sufficient. to detect them. Honest men and men of
talent, we trust there are, of all parties, who are willing to devote
their talents, their property and their lives, for the preservation of
their country. Let them unite — let us unite with them, and we may
form a powerful phalanx against the common enemy. If there
must be a division, let not the dividing line separate honest men, but
let it be drawn between honesty and dishonesty, virtue and vice,
treachery and patriotism. May this anniversary witness a coal-
escence of all genuine Americans. And from this day may honest
men bury in eternal oblivion all those petty animosities and false
insinuations which gender strife.
.yZ..
CHAPTETt YII.
Settlement of E,ev. Maktin Moore. Some accotjxt op his Ministry.
DisMissiox. Subsequent Life. His Published "Works.
Rev. Martin Moore was the next pastor of this church. Two
years and seven months elapsed after the death of Mr. Sears before the
ordination of Mr. Moore. During that time, Messrs. Samuel Parker,
Joel Wright, Calvin Wait, Isaac Jones, and John Taylor preached,
as candidates. The call of the church bears date of November 18
1813; the concurring vote of the town was given December 6 ; an
affirmative answer was communicated January 2, 1814, and on the
16th of February following he was ordained. Mr. Moore was born
in Sterling, in the county of Worcester, A. D. 1790, and graduated
at Brown University, A. D. 1810. He was dismissed from Natick,
August 7, 1833, and soon after installed pastor of the Congregational
church in Cohasset, from which place, after a residence of eight
years, he removed to Boston, where he has since resided. He has
been for the last eleven years one of the editors and proprietors of
the Boston Recorder, now the Puritan Recorder. Those best
acquainted with Mr. Moore can accurately imagine what will be the
language of the biographer, who, it is to be hoped, some distant day
shall record his history. " Monuments and eulogy belong to the
dead." We seem, at last in our work, to walk in our own times, to
tread among the living and the active men around us ; and when we
see ■ the grey hairs and venerable form of liim who for a score of
yers stood and guarded the town from external and internal foes,
let us bless a kind Providence \fhich has preserved him so long, and
sincerely hope that many years will yet elapse before his removal to
that bourne his predecessors have sought shall render it proper for
a biographer to publish a history of his life, or a sketch of his
character.
The following is a list of his published works, beside several
articles for periodicals : — 1st. A Sermon deUvercd at Natick in
1817, giving an account of the religious society and church. 2d.
86 HISTORY OF NATICK.
A Life of the Apostle Eliot, published in 1822, and a second edition
in 1842. 3d. A History of the Boston Revival in 1842. _^
The following extract from a sermon preached at Natick in 1817,
will give the reader an idea of his style :
" The goodness of God tons as a town demands our most grateful
acknowledgments. He has given us a fruitful soil and a competency
of the good things of this life. The town since its settlement has
been favored with a good degree of health. It has been preserved
from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and from the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. At an early period in the History of New
England, God was pleased to visit the natives, who were then the
proprietors of this town, with a time of refreshing from the presence
of the Lord. By the instrumentality of Eliot, a good number of
these benighted pagans were turned from darkness to light, from the
power of Satan to God. The names of Eliot and Brainard are
praised in all the churches.
In the days of Whitfield, when the New England churches were
visited with a shower of righteousness, this town received a portion
of this blessing. At this period, fifty were added to the church.
God evidently gave you a blessing in your late pastor. Although
his ministry was short, and at some periods he had occasion to take
up the mournful lamentation of the prophet, ' Who hath believed
our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ? ' yet the word
preached by him accomplished what God pleased, and prospered in the
thing whereunto he sent it. The church in this town has been repeat-
edly dissolved, but it has been as often gathered again. God has never
permitted it to be extinguished. It continues to this day. I trust
the language of God to it at this time is, ' Fear not, little flock, it is
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' I trust there
are in this place, as there were at the church in Sardis, in the days
of the Revelation, a ' few names who have not defiled their garments.'
In view of all the goodness which God has caused to pass before you
and your fathers this day, say with the Psalmist, ' Bless the Lord,
our souls, and all that is Avithin us, bless his holy name.'
God has given you occasion to sing of mercies. He has also given
you occasion to sing of judgments. You have not at all times had
that peace and harmony which constitute a considerable portion of
human happiness. Although men under such circumstances are
disposed to free themselves from guilt and lay blame upon the
HISTORY OF NATICK. 87
opposite party, yet the fact is, that in the heat of controversy many
things are said and done on both sides which are wrong. If the
point can be obtained, the means of obtaining it are not so much
regarded as they ought to be. Sin is always the procuring cause of
misery. Dissensions should be viewed as the fruits of sin, and as
evidences of God's displeasure against it. In view of dissensions
that have existed heretofore among you, you should be led to mourn
for sin which was the procuring cause of these dissensions. Each
should say. What sins have I done ? Each should turn to the Lord
•with full purpose of heart to serve Him. Each should from the
heart, forgive his brother that has trespassed against him, then God
will also forgive him his trespasses. Were this disposition universal
there would be no diflSculty in devising means again to unite the town
in forming one religious society. Let each pursue this coarse of
conduct and we shall soon know how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity. ,
We should meet together, not merely as we do now, to transact our
civil business, but every Sabbath we should unitedly present our
supplications before the throne of grace, — we should join our hearts
and voices in songs of praise. We should be one family, partakers of
each other's joys and sorrows. The deadly wound would be healed.
The God of peace would be with us and bless us.
W^here are the natives that were the original proprietors of this
town ? Not only those are dead who Avere alive when the white
people first began to settle among them, but the tribe has become
nearly extinct, and their language entirely lost.
Where are the first white settlers of this town ? They are all
gone to their long homes ; a few only of the second generation are
in the land of the living. Many of the third and fourth, and some of
the fifth generation have passed off the stage of action. Our chil-
dren will shortly inquire where are tlieir fathers. Soon we who are
busy and active shall be gathered to our fathers, even as they were
gathered unto theirs. Time is ever on the wing. The grave already
opens its mouth to receive us.
Each moment has its sickle, and cuts down
The fairest hope of sublunary bliss.
During the past year a number of us have been bereft of friends.
Some of us have been called to part with a father, some with a
88 HISTORY OF NATICK.
brother, some with sisters, and some with children. During the past
year death made inroads upon this society. We have lately entered
upon a new year. In all human probability it will be said to some
one of us, ' Tliis year tJiou shalt die.'' Which family death will
enter, which seat he will make vacant in this house, no one knows but
God.
We know not at what hour of the night our Lord will come ;
hence we ought always to watch and be ready. Blessed is that
servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doins;."
d^CyC'C^
CC^C^
CHAPTEE VIII.
Settlement of Rev. E. D. Moore. Dismission. Notice of Rev. Samuel
Hunt. Chauge at his Ordination. Dismission. Settlement of Rev.
Eliab Nason. His Publications.
Rev. Erasmus D. Moore was the immediate successor of him who
has last received our attention. He was born in Winsted, Conn., and
received his collegiate education at New Haven, as also his theo-
logical education. He was ordained at Natick, November 6, 1833.
Rev. Dr. Skinner preached the sermon on the occasion. Rev. Dr.
Ide, pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Medway, gave
the charge to the pastor. Rev. Samuel Lee, then of Sherborn,
Mass., made the address to the people. Mr. Moore was dismissed
from his charge in April, 1838. Since that time he has been suc-
cessively pastor of the church in Kingston, and Barre, Mass., and for
ten years editor of the Boston Recorder, Reporter and Congrega-
tionalist. He is now a resident in town.
The congregation, after the dismission of the above pastor, listened
to thirty-nine different preachers before they became satisfied that
their interest demanded the settlement of any one. Rev. Samuel
Hunt at last received the unanimous call of the church and society,
and was ordained pastor, July 17, 1839. Rev. Dr. Ide, of Mcdway,
preached the sermon. Rev. L. Hyde, of Wayland, offered the or-
daining prayer. Rev. W. Pierce, of Foxboro', gave the charge
to the pastor, and Rev. Edmund Dowse, of Sherborn, gave the
right hand of fellowship.
Mr. Hunt is a native of Attleboro', Mass. ; was graduated at Am-
herst college in 1832 ; theologically educated at Princeton, New
Jersey. He was dismissed from Natick, May 22, 1850.
There are very few congregations in this section of Massachusetts
where Mr. Hunt is not known and respected, and ever a welcome
visitor. The reader need only to peruse the specimens of his pro-
ductions which appear in other parts of this work, and to know his
manner of delivery, to join in the opinion of his friends universally,
that he possesses quaUticsas an orator which are equalled by few, and
90 HISTORY OF NATICK.
which justly entitle him to the position he occupies among his breth-
ren in the ministry.
The charge of Rev. Mr. Pierce at the ordination of Mr. Hunt, is
so unique in its character, and at the same time so able and solemn,
that I have concluded to give the present and future readers an op-
portunity of perusing it.
CHARGE TO THE PASTOR.
Dear Sir: — By the choice of this church and your own consent,
with the sanction of this ecclesiastical council and the solemnities of
the present occasion, you are this day invested with the pastoral
office.
It is your hope, sir, and we trust your most fervent prayer, that you
may be a pious, faithful minister ; finish your course with joy, and at
last, with all the redeemed of the Lord, receive a crown of life. You
will, therefore, listen to considerations of the most weighty charac-
ter.
And first, sir, I charge you in the name of this council, — I charge
you to attend to the piety of your own heart. This duty, though not
peculiar to the Christian minister, is an item of such a nature as can-
not be dispensed with. If there is one thing on earth more out of
place or character than another, it is a man undertaking without piety
to discharge the duties of the Christian minister. His heart cannot
be in his work, and without this he will lose his own soul, and be very
liable to lose the souls of those who hear him.
The most awful spectacle exhibited at the judgment day, — ^yeSjthe
most fearful doom of all the dammed of lost men, will be that of the
man who in this world undertook to preach the Gospel without religion,
and at last went down to hell with most of his congregation.
Never be satisfied with a moderate degree of piety — with mere
grace enough to make a shift to get yourself into heaven. You must
have enough to induce you to labor faithfully to save your hearers.
The duties of a minister are so self-denying, require such a sacrifice
of pride and ease — such a holy baptizing of the whole man, that they
will be never faithfully carried through with that ordinary degree of
godliness which seems to content most Christians in the common walks.
Remember there is so much about your ministerial duty that is offi-
cial, that what would be evidence of piety in others can be none in
HISTORY OF NATICK. 91
you. Then labor, sir, to obtain a high degree of practical godliness.
This will support you in every trial, give an unction to your ministry,
and carry you safely through it.
Having settled this part of the business, I proceed to the active
duties of the pastoral life.
And here, sir, I charge you to be a doctrinal, discriminating, faith-
ful preacher. Be sound in the faith yourself, and preach a sound
faith to your people. Feel your obligations to preach the whole coun-
sel of God. The Bible is a whole system of revealed truth. If any
part of it is suppressed in your public ministration, it becomes defec-
tive, and indescribable mischief may and generally does follow from
such a partial exhibition of it. For a minister of Christ to undertake
thus to improve what God has stamped with the seal of perfection, is
little less than blasphemous presumption. As the last evil in the case
it betrays such a cowardly spirit as should never exist in a minister of
Christ. Feel the fullest confidence that for all converting and sanc-
tifying purposes, " the law of the Lord is perfect." That it is no
way to try to save your people by forsaking, or mutilating the means
Infinite Wisdom has provided to do it. You must not attempt to be
■wiser than your Maker.
In meeting your people it is not what your sympathies might dic-
tate, or what you might be tempted to say in the hour of weakness,
but " Whatsaith the Lord ? " It is a gross insult to God for a minis-
ter to tamper with his word. How would a physician receive it if
you threw away one half of a medical prescription, and attempted to
produce with the other a result which could only be effected with the
whole ?
Have a sound faith yourself, sir, and preach a sound faith to your
people. And so preach it, not that they can understand it if they
will, but, that they must understand it whether they will or not.
Study to be simple. Remember the most eminent Christians are
best fed with the simplest truths, simply stated. Be content to say
plain common things, in a plain common way.
Make a scientific; systematic preacher. Let your discourses be
methodical, without being long or dull. Sermonize by rule, but be
not too much pampered by rules. Remember that true eloquence
begins where rules end. Begin your sermons with a plan ; if the
unrestrained ardent worship of your own mind tear it iialf to pieces
in the issue, so much the better.
92 HISTORY OF NATICK.
The \NOvdipower embraces more excellences in a good sermon than
all other words put together. But let it be the power of truth.
Never go out of your way for figures or flowers, or to read poetry to
your people. If they crowd your path, you need not refuse them.
Study to make a pungent, rather than a fine preacher ; a profitable,
rather than an entertaining minister. When your people think you
have exhausted your subject in your sermons, still surprise them with
specimens of new matter.
Invent no new truths, but take good care to bring up and set home
the old ones. And while you make your study your fortress and
abiding place, be careful to read men as well as books.
If you seem to neglect any part of your ministerial duty, let it be
the visiting your people. They may complain, still nothing will
atone for poor sermons on the Sabbath. People in general are
very erroneous in their estimate of the labors of the pastoral ofiice.
They do not see why a minister cannot visit four or five days, and
yet preach labored, interesting sermons on the Sabbath. 4f, amidst
many complaints, you are able, sir, to satisfy your own conscience in
this matter, it will be enough.
At least it will be as much as your brethren and vrorn-out fathers
in the ministry have ever been able to do. Besides, the utility of
much visiting is very questionable. It is commonly more interesting
than profitable. The Sabbath is the minister's day, and if he would
appear in his strength on that sacred day, and in the beauty and
strength of the ministerial office, his weekly visits must be few and
short.
Hold no more meetings than you can make good onm. There
is more hearing than thinking at this day. More religion in the mass
than personal piety. In this respect " former days were better
than these."
Administer the Lord's Supper to your church; the ordinance
of baptism to believers and their households.
Maintain the discipline of your church. It is much easier, as
well as safer, to keep a church well, than half disciphned. Great
numbers is one of the least excellences of a good church.
Be the moderator of your church. Infringe upon none of its
rights, and be as careful to give up none of your own. If the minis-
try has lost one half of its prerogative, this forms no reason why it
should hold the other by a precarious tenure. In throwing off the
HISTORY OF NATICK. 93
rubbish of our puritanic fathers, why should we divesfc ourselves of
our real rights ?
Make your church a deliberate body. Never become a managing
minister ; it never fails to bring trouble in the end. It is a fearful
sign Avhen a church always passes its vote unanimously.
Deal frankly with your church ; be open and sincere in your in-
tercourse with all its members. This will best teach them to deal
thus with you. Have no more church meetings than you have
business to transact.
In your intercourse with your people never forget that you are
a minister, or throw aside for a moment the dignity and sacredness
of the pastoral office. It is easy for a minister to destroy on Mon-
day all the good of his Sabbath day's labor. Be affable, but serious,
grave, and of easy access.
Never have favorites or especial confidents among your people.
Consider no one mean or unimportant. All of them have precious
souls, to whom your ministry will prove a savor of life or of death.
Your Master condescended to men of low estate ; " do thou like-
wise." Next to bitter enemies, vou will have to dread warm friends.
These are they who dismiss ministers, having first become enemies
and betrayed your confidence.
Be the minister of your whole people, but of none of them in par-
ticular. Never bow down to mammon, or purchase peace at the
shrine of vice in high places, dressed in gay clothing. Better lose
your people, yes, your Hfe, than your conscience. Christ views your
people very much alike, none rich and none poor. It will be right
and safe to view them as your divine Master views them.
Be attentive and faithful to the sick and dying. And while you
avoid that morose and bitter faithfulness, better conceived than ex-
pressed, never, through overwrought sympathy, withhold from them
the bread of life.
Never undertake in your own strength to convert sinners, or to
get up revivals of religion among your people ; but when God makes
them, then bestir yourself and work with him.
Be hospitable to your people and to the stranger within your gates.
Treat your brethren in the ministry with kindness. And Avhile you
are free to ask advice in your need, and to give the same to others
in turn, call no man on earth master or servant.
In ordaining men to the Christian ministry lay hands suddenly on
94 HISTORY OF NATICK.
no man. The cause of Christ has never gained, but lost, by era-
ploying unsanctified minds to carry it forward.
Take good care of your health. A disregard of this will neutralize
your whole ministry. It is thought by many that almost any health,
however feeble, or any constitution, however broken down, will do
well enough for a minister. But sad experience teaches us that this
is a mistaken view of the subject. There is no calling or employ-
ment where more vigor, a firmer nerve, or a sounder constitution are
needed, than that in which the ministers of Christ are engaged. To
undertake to support the pastoral office with half the springs of life
exhausted, is but to expose the other half to quick destruction.
The ministry of such must be very fluctuating, unless they possess
extraordinary mental vigor ; and if so, they find their graves the
sooner. At best they are doomed to do everything with a jaded
spirit. Hence, dear sir, take good care of your health ; never tax it
beyond endurance ; it will be but loss both to yourself and your
people.
I have now run over the several topics to which I would call your
attention, as you are inducted into the pastoral office. They have
not been more numerous, brief, or diversified, than Paul's charge to
Timothy ; and his may be considered a good model. Ho would have
his young disciple understand human nature, as well as the divine
perfections; — avoid old wives' fables, and watch for his often infir-
mities, as well as to preach the Gospel, and be a pattern of good
works. And now, dear sir, these things do and teach. Maintain a
deep sense of your dependence on God ; live near to Him by prayer
and faith ; preach the word ; love your people ; pray for them ; and
like Paul the aged, warn every one of them, day and night, with
tears. Remember there is nothing on earth you can neither face
or fly from, but a sense of duty neglected. This will follow every
Avhere and give you no rest.
Never fear your people. If fear brings a snare to the common
Chris ian, it (ioes most emphatically so to the minister of Christ.
A minister may as well go through this world with the boldness of a
lion as with the timidity of a hare, and much better. I mean bold-
ness n its best sense.
Speak Avell of your people ; revere the hoary bead ; cherish and
guiie the yftuth ; in short, be to your people a good and faithful
minister of Jesus Christ.
cy
HISTORY OF NATICK. 95
These things, beloved sir, I charge you before God and his Son
Jesus Christ, in the presence of your people and many witnesses, to
which if you take heed you will save yourself and them which hear
you.
We shall meet again another day and amid different scenes. It
will be to witness a burning world, — to see the righteous saved,
the wicl^d damned, and God's eternal government approved. To
meet our people, too, and give an account of our stewardship,
and, if faithful to our solemn trust, to receive a crown of life at the
hand of Jesus. But ah ! what if we should be found recreant ?
Yes, sir, our destiny is of no ordinary character. It points to the
most exalted bliss, or the deepest sorrow. Jesus will, ere long, place
an unfading crown of glory on our heads, stored with souls redeemed
from among our people, or banish us as those he never called or
knew ; and, damned of heaven and earth, we shall sink to the lowest
hell, amid the loud lament and bitter execrations of our people, lost
through our nedect.
Oh, sir, consider these things ; be valiant, be courageous ; fight
the good fight of faith, and the grace of God be with your spirit.
Amen.
The present incumbent of the pastoral office in this society is Rev.
Elias Nason. He was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, April
21st, 1811. His parents, however, removed to Hopkinton in 1812,
at which place his early years were mostly spent.
He was graduated at Brown University, in 1836, and after spend-
ing some time as teacher of an academy in Lancaster, he removed
to the State of Georgia, where he remained till 1840. During his
residence at the South he was successively engaged as an editor, a
teacher, and a student in theology.
In the year 1840, he came to Newburyport, where he was en-
gaged for three or four years in teaching a young ladies' seminary ;
after which he was appointed to succeed Mr. Page, as Principal of
the English High Scliool in that city, and in about a year afterwards
was promoted to the mastership of the Latin School.
In 1850, Mr. Nason was invited to the charge of the new High
School in Milford, where he remained till called to settle as pastor of
the First Congregational Church and Society in Natick, over which he
was ordained, May 5, 1852.
96 HISTOEY OF NATICK.
In November, 1839, Mr. Nason was married to Miss Mira Ann
Bigelow, of Framingham, by whom be has five children.
His publications are, 1. "A course of Lessons in French Litera-
ture, designed as an introduction to the study of the French Lan-
guage." 1849. 2. " Songs for the School-Room." 1842. 3.
" Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Howe, of Hopkinton," pubhshed in
1851. 4. A Sermon delivered in the First Congnigational
Church, Dec. 12, 1852. Text, "Thou shalt not steal." '5. "The
Strength and Beauty of the Sanctuary," a sermon preached at the
dedication of the new church, Nov. 15th, 1854.
CHAPTER IX.
Other new Societies. Second Congregational Church. Methodist.
Baptist. Universalist.
The following is a list of the clergymen -who have supplied the
pulpit in the Congregational Church and Society at South Natick : —
James W. Thompson, Edward Stone, Edward Palmer, Ira Blan-
chard, David Damon, Thomas B. Gannett.
A Methodist society was formed here in 1835, and now has con-
nected with its church 134 members. From 1835 to 1840, it
formed a part of the Needham Circuit. In 1835, Revs. Isaac Jen-
nison, Peter Sabine and Reuben Brown were the officiating men of
the Circuit. In 1836, Revs. Nathan B. Spaulding and William A.
Clapp ; in 1837, Erastus Otis ; in 1838, Rev. Paul Townsend ; in
1839, Rev. Ezekiel B. Phillips ; in 1840-1, Rev. Thomas W. Tucker ;
in 1842, Rev. Eliphalet W. Jackson ; in 1843, Rev. Philander Wal-
lingford ; in 1844-5, Rev. W. R. Stone ; in 1846-7, Rev. John J.
S. Gridley ; in 1848--9, Rev. Amos Walton ; in 1850, Rev. Thomas
H. Mudge ; in 1851, Rev. Jotham Horton ; in 1852-3, Rev. Con-
verse L. McCurdy ; in 1854-5, Rev. Joseph W. Lewis.
The Baptist Society was formed in 1850 ; have built them a new
house large enough for their own accommodation, and are in a pros-
perous condition. The present pastor. Rev. A. S. Lyon, is a native
of West Woodstock, Conn. ; graduated at Brown University, Sept. 5,
1837. He has been, since that time, pastor successively of the
Baptist church in North Oxford, and Chatham, Mass. He was
recognized pastor of the church in Natick, Jan. 16, 1850.
A Universalist Society, formed here in 1848, have since bought and
repaired the meeting-house once owned by the First Congregational
Church. They have each Sabbath a good number of attendants on
their worship. Rev. Emmons Partridge is their present pastor.
Although the ministers and people of the different religious
societies differ in their religious opinions, there seems to be no other
strife between them. The only emulation is to excel in leading a
sober, righteous and godly life, and no other provocation than a
provoking one another to good works.
7
CHAPTER X.
Natural History. Climate. Geology. Botany. Ponds. Rivers. Brooks,
Fish.
CLIMATE.
Nothing in the topographical situation of Natick is known
that "vrould cause its climate to vary from that of places in the
same latitude. An epidemic which visited the place in 1848 has
given to it a reputation for an unhealthy town, which it is believed
is not sustained by fact. Few places exhibit a higher average term
of human life. The low position of the plain on which the principal
village stands frequently causes at night a damp atmosphere and
dense fogs to prevail, but the sun's rays reflected from the loose soil
on which the village stands soon dispel it. The snow falls quite as
deep here as in the surrounding towns, and goes off" no earher,
although the place is protected from winds by surrounding hills. It
is not either in winter or summer visited by as severe storms as sur-
rounding towns.
GEOLOGY.
Clay suitable for brick is found in the west part of Natick,
and has been extensively used, but is now abandoned. Iron ore
of the bog species has been found and wrought at the Chelmsford
Furnace. It was dug on land now owned by the heirs of Jonathan
Walcott, a few rods to the west of School street. Iron is also found
disseminated among the rocks and other minerals in different parts
of the town. The'rocks of Natick are all of them primary, granite,
sienite and slate. No quarry furnishing stone suitable for building
purposes is now known in this vicinity. There is limestone in the
central part of the town, formerly wrought, but now discontinued.
Calcareous spar, resembling somewhat carbonate of lime, is not uncom-
mon ; feldspar is found in great variety ; also several varieties of
quartz. The lamella hornblende, actinolite, and pargasite, are
frequently seen.
A thorough geological survey of Natick would undoubtedly dis-
HISTORY OF NATICK. 99
cover many other minerals noAv supposed to exist only at a distance,
in some modern El Dorado, some Rockport, or Quincy. i
BOTANY.
The forests of Natick -which have escaped the ravages of time,
are composed of walnut, chestnut, elm, maple, birch, pine, and
oak. Hemlock and spruce are found in small quantities in dif-
ferent parts of the town. Very little wood is now cut for fuel, coal
being principally used for that purpose. Horse chestnuts, Lombardy
poplars, with fruit trees, are mostly used for ornamental purposes.
There are several magnificent elms in different parts of the town,
remarkable for size and beauty, the history of which is interesting.
One in front of the house owned and occupied by Mr. Thomas F.
Hammond was set in its present place by an uncle of Mr. Ham-
mond about the year 1760, making its age at the present time
ninety-five years. The diameter of a circle including its outmost
branches would be about a hundred feet. The trunk, five feet from
the ground, measures fifteen and a half feet. It is the finest tree in
town. There is another in front of the house known as the " Shep-
herd House " in South Natick, on the margin of Charles River,
which measures ten feet about the trunk. Its pendent branches are
spread equally in all directions to the distance of fifty feet from the
body, thus giving a diameter of one hundred feet to its shade.
Not a prince
In all that proud old world beyond the deep
E'er wore his crown as loftily as he
"Wears the green coronal of leaves with which
Thy hand has graced liim.
Some other trees, not remarkable otherwise, have histories which
entitle them to notice. The oak standing a few rods to the east of
the south meeting-house bears every evidence of an age greater
than that of the town and was probably a witness of Eliot's first
visit to " the place of hills." Its twin brother, near where the mon-
ument stands, and which two feet from the ground measures seven-
teen feet in circumference, was a few years since cut down and
removed, for what reason it is difficult to see.
In the year 1722 a deputation of Indians came to Mr. Peabody's
100 HISTORY OF NATICK.
house, one bearing two elm trees on his shoulders. They presented
themselves to their minister and desired permission to set out those
trees before his door, as a mark of their regard, or as the tree of
friendship. These trees flourished about ninety years, when the
larger was struck by lightning and soon after failed. The other,
being in a state of decline, was soon after cut down. These trees
measured, one foot from the ground, twenty-one feet, and in the
smallest part, thirteen feet. These trees stood in front of the first
house on the left after passing Charles River bridge.
The fine trees in front of the house of Oliver Bacon were a like
gift of friendship to Rev. Mr. Badger, who built the house, from his
swarthy friends, the Indians. They were by them called trees of
friendship, and as such planted by them in the year 1753. They
are, in consequence, one hundred and three years old.
The buttonwood trees near the Eliot monument were set out the
same year peace was declared between Great Britain and her Amer-
ican colonies. These being set in the burial-place of the red man,
gave great ofience to the remnants of that race then living in town.
PONDS.
Lake Cochituate, mostly in Natick, has for a few years past
been the principal object of attraction to visitors from abroad.
It originally covered an area of four hundred and fifty acres, but
such additions have been made to it that it now measures six hundred
and fifty -nine acres. It drains a surface of' eleven thousand four
hundred acres, and in some parts is eighty feet deep. It is said to
be seven miles in length. A full description of it would not only
present to the reader an irregular body of water seven miles in length,
in some places one mile in width, the opposite shores at other points
approaching to Avithin a rod of each other, estuaries on either side
varying from one acre to six in surface, but would require the writer
to follow a volume of its water for fifteen miles under ground, above
valleys and river, till it emerge in an artificial pond in Brookline
covering an area of thirty acres, with cultivated grounds and grassy
banks surrounding, and thence to trace it through iron pipes to the
pinnacle of Beacon Hill, see it thread in smaller streams by the side-
walks of all the principal streets of the city, gushing in fountains
from the State House and Common, and bid it adieu only as it com-
HISTORY OF NATICK. 101
mends itself in its refreshing coolness to the languid lips of a Beacon
street belle, or quenches the thirst of a Broad street laborer.
The following is the analysis of its waters by Prof. Silliman :
Chloride of Sodium 0323
Chloride of Potassium 0380
Chloride of Calcium 0308
Chloride of Magnesium 0764
Sulphate of Magnesia 1020
Alumina 0800
Carbonate of Lime 2380
Carbonate of Magnesia 0630
Silice • .0300
Carbonate of Soda 5295
1.2200
Carbonic acid in one gallon, in cubic inches 1.0719
Dug Pond lies south of the above, and covers an area of fifty
acres. This is used as a reservoir in which to lay up water for the
city of Boston. Its shores are very abrupt, and give it the appear-
ance of being dug, whence its name. It has no natural inlet or
outlet. Nonesuch Pond is in the extreme northern corner of the
town, and lies partly in Weston. It covers fifty acres in area. For
what it is called Nonesuch it is difficult to see. There are many
similar bodies of water in different parts of Massachusetts, but they
may have escaped the notice of those who gave this its name.
RIVERS.
Charles River in its serpentine course to the ocean visits the
south part of Natick, and covers in its course one hundred acres. It
not only adorns the surrounding lands, and gives pleasure to those
who are disposed to seek for its piscatory treasures, but furnishes a
valuable water privilege. It is said that as much water runs in the
channel here as at Watcrtown, Mother Brook draining as much from
the river as flows into it from brooks between Natick and Water-
town. A glance at the surrounding country from the margin of this
river will discover many beautiful situations for country seats yet
unoccupied. The soil in the neighborhood is rich, the trees of a
rare size, and many small forests of a superior growth. One who
wrote a description of this section of country in 1830 says:
102 HISTORY OF NATICK.
" Were all the Avater privileges used to the best advantage, and
all the land that is suitable cultivated as a considerable portion of it
now is, double the number of inhabitants might be supported as
comfortably and respectably as the present population. Beautiful
and even romantic situations for country seats, for gentlemen of
fortune and taste, are not wanting among the hills, plains and ponds
in the northerly portions of the town, and on the charming banks of
the Charles in the southerly section."
What at that time was assertion and prediction is now in part fact
and history. There is now four times the number of people on the
soil of Natick than when the above was written. On many of the
beautiful sites described elegant houses have been built, and much
of the land whicii was then unimproved is at this time sending
yearly to the granaries of its owners bountiful rewards for the labor
which has been bestowed upon it.
BROOKS.
Many brooks, with and without names, are tributary to the ponds
and river. The range of hills running northeast and southwest
between Natick and the South village, of which the highest peak is
Broad's, divides the brooks emptying into the Charles from those
which find their way into the lake.
The waters which on the top of Broad's Hill are divided only by a
few feet, find their way to the ocean by channels nearly a hundred
miles from each other, and meet again only in the tumblings of the
ocean or the vapors of the atmosphere.
Snake Brook, receiving its name from its serpentine windings,
forms part of the boundary line between Wayland and Natick, and
empties into Lake Cochituate from the east, near the gate-house of
the Boston Water Works.
Began Brook runs from the east by the side of the !Boston and
Worcester Railroad, under Main street and Long Pond Hotel, and
empties into the lake near its southeastern corner. Steep Brook
empties into the lake from the west.
Bacon's and Sawin's Brooks, receiving their names from the
owners of mills situated upon them, enter Charles Biver from the
north within a short distance of each other.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 103
FISH.
The fish formerly most abundant at Natick, beside those which
are now found in its waters, were alewives and shad. Prior to the
erection of dams across Concord River they were caught in great
quantities at different points in Lake Cochituate, and furnished food
for cattle as well as man. Officers were chosen each year by the
town, to superintend the fisheries. Their duty was to see that nothing
obstructed the entrance of fish into the pond, and that no one enjoyed
the privilege of the grounds unless authorized by the town. Since
the building of factories at Lowell there have been no fish other
than such as may be found in all inland ponds and brooks, — pickerel,
dace, eels, pout, perch, and some smaller kinds.
WILD ANIMALS.
The woods, lakes and streams of Natick were once the resort
of the wolf, deer, moose, bear, fox and otter. The Indian hunted
the fur-clad animal here, and sold the result of bis labor to those
who purchased the right to his trade of the General Court. The
fox, hare, and muskrat, arc still seen. The larger animals have
fled to less frequented haunts, and the smaller scarce furnish the
sportsman's gun with its annual demand.
CHAPTER XL
Descriptive History. Bou^^daries. Roads. Railroads. Post Office.
Public Buildings. Burying Grounds. Consecration of Dell-Park.
Mr. Hunt's Address.
The land throughout Natick is generally favorable to the building
of good roads. The hills are easily surmounted or removed, and
coarse gravel in most sections is easily obtained.
The principal roads are the Worcester turnpike, so called, passing
through the north part of the town, which was formerly much more
used than at present, the Central turnpike, so called, and the Old
Hartford road through the south part.
These roads until 1835 were the thoroughfares for all traders
from Boston to Hartford. On the Worcester the Southern mail
passed daily, and other stages. On each of the other roads stages
passed daily on their way to Hartford, Conn.
The railroad now more adequately supplies the wants of the
community, and furnishes accommodation for man and beast, for
merchandise or merchants, who may now be transported to Boston
or Hartford or New York, or sent on their way beyond the Hudson
while the old coaches were being rolled from their sheds.
The main railroad through this town was completed in the year
1835. But one set of rails was laid upon it, and the building for a
depot was of the smallest size.
The Saxonville Railroad was built in 1845. It is a branch of the
Boston and Worcester, and is four miles in length.
The cars now leave Natick for Worcester twice every day, for
Boston six times, and for Milford and Saxonville three times.
POST OFFICE .
The Post Office now in the centre of the town was established
in 1817, through the instrumentality of Rev. Martin Moore.
Martin Haynes was the first Postmaster. In 1820 William Far-
riss, Esq., was appointed and continued in office until 1840, when
HISTORY OF NATICK. 105
the oflSce was moved from what is now Felchville to Natick
Centre, and Nathaniel Clark appointed as Postmaster. Isaac D.
Morse succeeded him in 1844, and held the appointment until
July 1st, 1849, at which time John M. Seward was appointed. He
was succeeded, June 1st, 1854, by the present incumbent, Calvin
H. Perry.
Seventy-eight different newspapers and periodicals arrive at this
office each week. The following are some of the principal : — The
True Flag, 132 copies ; The American Union, 43 ; The New Eng-
land Farmer, 59 ; The Massachusetts Ploughman, 22 ; The Puritan
Recorder, 28 ; The Christian Freeman, 15 ; The Myrtle, 22 ; New
England Spiritualist, 20 ; Boston Traveller, 18 ; Boston Journal,
19 ; American Patriot, 10 ; Boston Pilot, 30 ; New York Tribune,
52 ; National Era, 14 ; Boys' and Girls' Magazine, 12 ; Harpers'
New Monthly, 4 ; Mothers' Assistant, 6 ; Prisoner's Friend, 5 ;
Massachusetts Teacher, 3 ; Waverley Magazine, 3 ; Boston Atlas,
4 ; Country Gentleman, 1 ; Exeter News Letter, 1 ; Saturday
Evening Post, Phila., 2 ; Boston Medical Journal, 2 ; Boston States-
man, 4 ; The Trumpet, 5.
A few copies of several other periodicals less known than the
above, making seventy-eight in all, should bo added to the list in
order to render it complete.
The following list of letters, received and sent from the office for
the week ending April 7th, is supposed to be an average list through-
out the year.
Letters received. Letters sent from.
Monday, April 2, 101 * Monday, April 2, 186
Tuesday, April 3, 102 Tuesday, April 3, 113
Wednesday, April 4, 121 Wednesday, April 4, 72
Thursday, April 5, 42 Thursday, April 5, 56
Friday, April 6, 80 Friday, April 6, 60
Saturday, April 7, 80 Saturday, April 7, 60
Making 1073 letters which pass through the office weekly.
The average income of this office to the Government for the last
four years has been seven hundred dollars.
The Post Office at South Natick was established in 1828. The
following is a list of its Postmasters: — Messrs. Dexter Whitney,
106 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Chester Adams, Ira Cleavland, Moses Eames, John Cleland, John
J. Perry.
Until 1835 the mails were brought to town by that " old stage
coach." What a frequent subject has this been for romantic
description and adventure. Who does not remember the mingled
emotions which held alternate sway in his heart as it peered over
the distant hills on its way from the far-off city ? The tin horn sounds
its approach, and a cloud of dust revolving on its axis announces its
arrival. The most important man, the man most talked .of in the
whole village, was the stage-driver. He supplied in part in his own
person the daily newspaper, giving an authentic, ncver-to-be-ques-
tioned account of all failures, marriages, fires, murders^ deaths, and
duels. But those vehicles are almost passed away.
" The old turnpike is a pike no more,
Wide open stands the gate,
We have made us a road for our horse to stride,
Which we ride at a flying rate.
We have filled the vaUeys and levelled the hills,
And tunnelled the mountain side,
And round the rough crag's dizzy verge
Fearlessly now we ride ! "
PUBLIC BUILDINGS,
Before proceeding to notice the buildings which the present
century has seen erected on the soil of Natick, let us glance at the
town in its commencement.
All the topics of political moment had been settled. A form of
government had been adopted, and all the machinery for town organ-
ization set in operation. All the sacrifices which the inhabitants had
made in the cause of liberty were forgotten. All were farmers. From
the centre to the circumference, that sound of the hammer which is
now so familiar was unheard. The fields yielded a rich return to the
granary, but in morality and virtue, in intelligence and refinement,
that period could not for a moment be compared with this. There
was more gaycty, and drinking, and gambling, — less reading, social
intercourse, and intellectual refinement. Samuel Morse kept the
village hotel, and the amount of liquor sold at his bar was immense.
Minister and doctor, deacons and church-members, we have reason
to believe, were at times all drinking together. At weddings and
HISTORY OF NATICK. 107
funerals, on all festive occasions, the flow of ardent corresponded
with the flow of animal spirits. Bub a change, such as is not often
seen, came over the place during the second ten years of the present
century. A revival of religion during the ministry of Rev. Martin
jMoore altered the character of the town from that of wild thought-
lessness and intemperance to steadiness and sobriety. Many who
were idle became industrious ; many who were intemperate became
sober; some who were unjust in their dealings became honest. Men
began more to reverence God's day and word, and to increase in love
and reverence for his ordinances. It is the testimony of eye-witnesses,
that the change at that time in the character of the place was so
radical that scarce a feature by Avhich it could be recognized
remained. At the time alluded to no public buildings, except the
school-houses and one meeting-house, were in town.
The public buildings which a writer is now called upon to describe
are the meeting-houses belonging to five difierent religious societies,
the town-house, and school-houses of the several districts.
The house belonging to the first religious society was commenced
in the summer of 1853, and completed in November of 1864. The
building committee under whose direction it was erected consisted
of Edward Walcott, John W. Bacon, Dexter Washburn, Leonard
Winch and Willard A. Wight.* The plan was drawn by G. J. F.
Bryant, architect, Boston. It is built in the gotbic order of archi-
tecture, with turrets, and a spire which rises to the height of one
hundred and seventy feet from the ground. It contains on the
floor, in the body of the house, eighty-eight pews, and in the gallery
above, twenty-eight, making one hundred and sixteen in all. In the
basement there is a vestry, lecture and committee room conveniently
arranged for meetings of the parish and church. The pews arc
made of black walnut, and are capable of seating eight hundred
people. The organ was manufactured by Mr. George Stevens.
The entire cost of the edifice, aside from the land on which it stands,
and the bell, was about $29,000.
The Unitarian meeting-house at South Natick is a well-built
modern structure, containing about sixty-five pews. It was erected
in the summer of 1828, and dedicated on the 20th of November.
It stands near the site of the first Indian meeting-house, but the
society worshipping in it arc not understood as making any preten-
sion to being the successors of the " Praying Indian " church of
1650.
108 HISTORY OF NATICK.
The meeting-house belonging to the Universalist society was
begun in the spring of 1835 by the first parish of Natick, and dedi-
cated in December of the same year. Its first cost was not far
from $7,500. It was sold to the Universalist society in 1853, and
by them removed to its present site. It has since been repaired,
and is now a very commodious place of worship.
The Baptist house was erected in 1852, and dedicated in January
of 1853. It cost, including the land on which it stands, $5,000.
It has a commodious vestry below the audience room of the house,
but above the level of the surrounding land.
The Methodist meeting-house was erected in 1834-5. Dedicated
on the 4th of July, 1835. Twenty feet addition to it was made in
1851. It now contains eighty pews, and cost, together with the land,
$6,000. With the exception of the Congregationalist, it is the
largest in town.
By far the largest public building in town is that erected by the
inhabitants of the central district for a school-house. Its length is
eighty feet, its width fifty. It is built in a substantial manner, three
stories high, with slated roof, and furnace in the basement. When
all of it shall be required to accommodate the scholars of the district,
it will contain twelve apartments, each capable of holding sixty
scholars. The entire cost of th^ building, with the land, was
$14,000.
Most of the other school-houses in town are new, some of very
humble, others of greater pretensions. Two new ones in Felchville
and Walnut Hills districts, costing each about $2,500, are models of
school-house architecture.
The town-hall was built in 1835, and seems doggedly determined
to retain its position and dimensions, notwithstanding its glaring
deficiency both in size and situation. It will undoubtedly not be
long before the debt and respectability of the town will be increased
by the erection of a building which will keep pace with the taste
and outrun the purse of those who may erect it.
Four other meeting-houses, now either torn down or used for other
purposes, have at difierent periods been erected in town. We have
an account, by Eliot, of the building of the first house in the year 1651.
" We must," says he, " of necessity have a house to lodge and meet
in, and wherein to lay our provisions and clothes, which cannot be in
wigwams. I set the Indians therefore to fell and square timber,
HISTORY OF NATICK. 109
and when it was ready, I went, and many of them with me, and on
their shoulders carried all of it together." A further description of
this house may be found in the first chapter of this volume.
In 1721 another house was built. Mr. Peabody officiated in it
the whole of his ministry, and Mr. Badger the first two years of his.
A third house was begun in the same neighborhood in 1754, but
was not completed until thirteen years after. After the close of
Mr. Badger's ministry and the erection of a church in the centre of
the town, it was abandoned to the storms, until in an election-day
frolic it was demolished and distributed among the woodpiles of the
vicinity.
The building now standing on Summer street and used by Mr.
Henry Morse as a shoe manufactory, was the meeting-house of
1799, " our meeting-house."
" No steeple graced its homely roof
With upward-pointing spire,
Our villagers were much too meek
A steeple to desire.
And never did the welcome tones
Of Sabbath morning bell
Our humble village worshippers
The hour of worship tell."
As the " old meeting-house " is dear to the memory of some now
living, and a description of it and of the mode of worship within it
will be the most effectual method of representing the manners and
customs of the people of that period, I shall give a detailed account
of it. It was two stories high, and painted yellow. There was no
tower, but an entrance on the south side for both stories of the
building. The windows were small, had heavy sashes and small
glass. The doors were composed of numerous panels. There was
only one entrance from the vestibule in front. Pews lined the sides
of the house, each containing about fifty square feet of surface in
the form of a square. Facing these wall pews of the lower floor
were four aisles which enclosed the body pews, also of the same
dimensions. The broad aisle, from the door to the pulpit, divided the
house into equal halves. The galleries surrounded three sides of
the house, and rested on large pillars in different parts. Pews sim-
ilar to those in the body of the house lined the galleries, while in
front, on a sloping descent, were the singing seats and free seats
for all.
110 HISTORY OF NATICK.
The pulpit was on a level with the galleries, far above the pews,
and was entered bj a flight of stairs with a balustrade of highly
wrought balusters. Behind the pulpit was a curtainless arched
window, and beneath it a vacant space into which every boj was
allowed to look, that he might be deterred by the dread of an impris-
onment there from sundry tricks which were not uncommonly
committed by the youth who had not their parents' eyes upon them.
In front of the pulpit were the deacons' seats, in a sort of pew
where they sat facing the congregation, with the communion table
hanging by hinges in front of them. The seats of the pews were
hung bj' hinges, so that they might be turned up as the congregation
rose for prayers ; and such a " slam-bang " as they made when
turned carelessly back at the close, constituted no inconsiderable
episode in the services.
Let us glance now at the congregation assembled on the Sabbath.
Perchance the wintry blast howls around and shrieks through the
crevices in the windows and walls. Thick boots, foot-stoves, and a
continual thumping on the sides of the pews, scarce suffice to keep
up the circulation in the half frozen limbs of the worshippers, and
the officiating clergyman protects the hands he raises in prayer by
shaggy mittens. In summer the sturdy farmer throws off his coat
and stands to listen to the word of God.
Look in now upon the worshippers as they gathered Sabbath after
Sabbath to worship " the God of the Fathers." There in the body
pews, on the right of the broad aisle, are Adam Morse, Capt. Broad,
Dea. Samuel Fisk, and William Farriss, with their families; on the
left, Capt. William Stone, Capt. David Bacon, Ephraim Dana,
and the family of Mr. Moore, the minister. In the large corner
pews at the northeast and northwest, are Josiah Walker and Dexter
Drury. Between them and the pulpit are a company of young
men unprovided with seats elsewhere. Along the eastern aisle by
the wall are Daniel Wight, Jonathan Bacon, Abel Drury ; Travis,
AVashburn, Goodnow, and Whitney, may be seen opposite ; while on
the western wall are Lealand, Haynes, Boss, Perry, Morse, with a
goodly band of the rising generation interspersed.
In the gallery are Mann, Rice, Bacon, and all others who were
unprovided with seats below. At intermission, those who are too far
distant from their homes to return, despatch their lunch of apples or
doughnuts in the pew ; or if in summer, they stroll in bands into the
HISTORY OP NATICK. Ill
graveyard, hold an hour's converse -with their sleeping friends
there, and learn the lesson of their own mortality.
As those who were actors in these events recall them, it must
seem like a dream ; and a full recital of the events of that period,
with the manner of worship, would bring the same smile to the
cheek as will play upon the faces of those who a hundred years
hence shall be told of the manners and customs of the worshippers
of this day.
"Alas ! there came a luckless day,
' Our meeting-house ' grew old —
The paint was worn — the shingles loose —
In winter 't was too cold ;
They called it an old-fashioned thing,
And said it must be sold."*
It had stood for thirty-four years, through the ministry of two
faithful pastors, and seen gathered into the enclosures of the church
the results of three glorious revivals. It was sold in 1834 to Dea.
Samuel Fisk and others.
BUKYING GROUNDS.
There are five burying grounds in Natick. The one in the
west part of the town was the gift of "William Boden, Esq. It was
granted in 1815, contains about one acre of land, fifty-five grave-
stones, one tomb the property of Capt. William Stone, and a monu-
ment erected by the town to the grantor in 1855.
The central burying ground was appropriated to this purpose in
the year 1805. A few persons had a few years before been interred
near where Walcott block now stands. This ground now contains
seventy-five tombstones and two tombs. Keziah Perry was the first
person buried within it. On her monument we read the inscription,
" She was the first grain sown in this ground."
Al what time the north cemetery was laid out the records do not
tell. We find the record of a vote passed by the town in the year
1758, " To fence the English burying grounds with stone walls,"
We may safely conclude that this is the oldest in town. It now
contains one hundred and thirty gravestones and two monuments. It
was enlarged in 1853, and now contains about three acres of land.
The graveyard at South Natick was granted to Mr. Peabody and
his successors, and for the use of other English inhabitants, June
112 HISTORY OF NATICK.
22d, 1731. By the exertions of the ladies of the village it has
been surrounded by a handsome stone wall and planted vrith trees
and shrubbery, so that of the smaller grounds in town it is by far
the most attractive and ornamental.
By a vote passed at the April meeting of 1849 twelve acres of
land were purchased of Edward Walcott, Esq., to be used as a
town burying ground, and having been laid out by a committee of
the town on the 8th day of July, 1849, the citizens of the place
assembled to consecrate it and set it apart as a cemetery. The
procession, consisting of the clergymen of the place. Sons of Tem-
perance, Odd Fellows, Firemen, children of the public schools,
ladies, and citizens, marched* under the direction of Hon. Henry
Wilson to the cemetery grounds.
The divine blessing was implored by Rev. Alfred Greenwood. A
hymn, written for the occasion by Miss Eunice Morse, beginning —
" 'T is well in these secluded shades
This pleasant spot to consecrate,"
was sung, after which Rev. Samuel Hunt of the First Church made
the foUowins; address :
^o
ADDRESS.
This is a new and unwonted spectacle. Never before have the
inhabitants of this town assembled, to set apart, with religious ser-
vices, a public burial-place for the dead. Like the great body of our
countrymen, they have been too utilitarian in their notions to deem
such an expenditure and exhibition called for, or even appropriate.
To answer the purpose of interment, all that has hitherto been con-
sidered necessary has been a lAace^ no matter how contracted and
dreary, or how much exposed to the careless tread and thoughtless
gaze of a rude and selfish world. If the dead could be buried out
of our sight we have seemed content, as if it had been a matter of
calculation to make the churchyard an accurate counterpart to the
desolate and lacerated hearts of surviving friends.
A change, however, has been visible in the public mind. More
attention is paid to the last, long home of earth's weary pilgrim.
The old burial grounds have begun to exhibit signs of improvement.
Their dilapidated fences have been repaired. The fallen posts and
HISTORY OF NATICK. 113
broken rails have been replaced by more substantial walls and gate-
ways ; while the bushes and briars have begun to disappear before
the scythe and mattock of an improving taste. A better style of
the " monumental stone " has appeared ; while it is no rare sight to
see shrubbery and flowers, planted by the hand, and watered by the
tears of affection, adorning the final resting-place of the departed,
and perfuming even the chill atmosphere of the graveyard by their
grateful incense. Nor this alone. The attention of our cities and
larger towns has been turned to the procurement of extensive tracts
of land, picturesque in scenery and presenting an agreeable diversity
of prospect, to be fitted up as ornamental burying grounds, set
apart and ensured, with all the rights and immunities of owner-
ship, to their proprietors as cemeteries, or — as the classical etymol-
ogy of the word imports — places of rest for all coming time. Com-
mencing with Mount Auburn, about twenty years ago, which has
been regarded rather as a model. New York has its Greenwood
Cemetery, and Philadelphia its Laurel Hill, while other cities and
towns with less pretensions, have made a similar provision for this
solemn but universal want of the race.
Yielding to this prevailing taste and growing custom the inhab-
itants of this town have, by a vote of very general unanimity,
procured this very pleasant and appropriate spot, which we this day
meet to consecrate with religious services, as the sacred depository of
the dead. Convenient of access to the village and the town, pre-
senting, for the choice of different tastes, the broad and smooth
plain or the undulating forest, lying on the border of yon beautiful
and peaceful lake, and, although within hearing of the rushing
world as it hurries past on its pathway of iron, yet so retired that
mourners in the privacy of their grief may visit, without fear of
intrusion, the graves and monuments sacred to the memories of their
much loved but departed friends.
I have said that this is an unwonted spectacle. It is to us and
our countrymen, with the recent exceptions to which I have referred.
And I have alluded to utiUtarianism as one of the reasons why we
have been accustomed to treat our dead with such neglect. It is
not impossible that the rigid Puritanism of our Pilgrim Fathers may
have contributed somewhat to the same result. Leaving as they
did their homo of civilization and religious institutions for this west-
ern wilderness, for conscience' sake and a supreme regard for truth
8
114 HISTORY OF NATICK.
and right as contrasted with form and • ceremony — believing, too,
that the great business of time is to prepare for eternity, and that
the only death, that is much to be feared, is the death of the soul,
they may have exhibited for the mere rites and place of sepulture
more indifference than is desirable. For, admitting all this and
more, that the death of the body is an event so grim and terrible,
in all its features, that no attending circumstances can greatly
aggravate or alleviate it ; that it makes no essential difference whether
man meets it on the bosom of affection, in the gentle precincts of his
family, or among distant and hostile strangers, — from the stern power
of disease or the hand of violence ; whether his ashes mingle with his
kindred's dust in some rural place of rest like this, or his bones bleach
and moulder amid the rank luxuriance of the battlefield, it is still
death, and only death ; it is the close of a life that at longest is brief
as the passing shadow, an entrance upon a stage of being immeasur-
able and without end — admit all this, and does it follow that it is
wrong or useless to make the associations that linger around the
grave as little repulsive as possible — the last resting-place of friends
who have gone before us — the strait and narrow house we soon must
occupy ?
But whatever may have been our views or practice, it is no new
thing for the human family to select with great care, and guard and
adorn with vigilant painstaking, the last long home of the sleeping
dead. As far back as the days of Abraham, we read of that ancient
patriarch purchasing " the field of Ephron in Machpelah, with all the
trees that were therein, and the borders round about, as a burying-
place, and there was Sarah his wife buried ; and there," the sacred
narrative continues, " they buried Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, and
Leah. And when Jacob had made an end of blessing his sons, he
also said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people ; bury
me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron." In
later days the same anxiety to provide some fitting place for the
dead has been manifested by those nations most distinguished for
their civilization and refinement. The Egyptians set apart extensive
fields in the neighborhood of their cities, in which the beautiful of
nature and the adornments of art were called in to render attractive
the last resting-place of the dead. The polished Greeks consecrated
a part of the groves of Academus, renowned the world over for its
school of Plato, as the burial-place of the most illustrious of their
HISTORY OF NATICK. 115
great men. Among the Romans the same custom obtained, it being
one of the laws of the Ten Tables that the dead should be neither
buried nor burned within the limits of the city. The Turks, cruel
and sensual as they are, pay great respect to the city of their dead,
planting the funeral cypress at the foot and head of each grave, and
thus securing those dark and shady groves of which travellers so
often speak. So the French, with their accustomed taste and senti-
ment, have filled their gorgeous Pere la Chaise with the ashes and
monuments of their distinguished countrymen ; to say nothing of the
more recent monuments in the same direction in London and Liver-
pool, and those instances in this country to which I have before
referred. It is then no uncommon service in which we are now
engaged. And as it is not uncommon, so I think it not difficult to
be shown that there is nothing in it forced, unnatural, or unrea-
sonable.
One important advantage we may hope from the establishment of
a cemetery or ornamental burying ground, as this is expected to be,
is the aid it will afford in perpetuating the memory of departed
friends. It may sound strange to some mourner here, whose heart
is still bleeding from the freshness of his grief, to whom the world
seems all dark and desolate and deprived of half its former seeming
worth, that any appliances are necessary to perpetuate memories it
seems impossible to forget. Strange, however, as it may sound, the
sentiment has the support of all former observation that the danger
all lies in the opposite direction.^
That anguish, ■will be wearied clown. For
What pang is permanent in man ? From the highest
As from the vilest thing of every day-
He learns to wean himself. For the strong hours
Conquer him.
And the past customs of society have seemed to aggravate what
perhaps we may call this natural predisposition to forget and become
insensible to the bereavements of Providence. Huddled in confined
and crowded fields, desolate and drear in their every aspect,
survivors have been repulsed from, instead of being invited to
linger around the graves of departed friends. Not a tree to cast
its shadow amid the fervor of summer, or its leaves in tiie melan-
choly months of autumn ; not a flower to shed its fragrance around
116 HISTORY OF NATICK.
its lowly bed, to adorn and cheer by its loveliness, and invite our
necessary care and culture : it has not been so strange that men
have so soon forgot their nearest friends, and so soon lost the benefit
that might have been hoped for from the more vivid and cherished
recollections of the buried objects of their former love.
Let, however, the tasteful cemetery be laid out, with ample lots
for each family, -with all the guaranties of exclusive, permanent
ownership, protected by an adequate enclosure, under the shadow
of the overhanging forest, planted with shrubbery and flowers, and
marked with the " sepulchral stone ; " let it be so easy of access
that it can be visited in the freshness of the morning, while the dew
sparkles on the grass and the birds make melody in the grove, or
under the fervor of the noonday sun, or amid the quiet of eventide
when the stars are out in their beauty, or the moon is clothing all
nature with her flood of silver radiance ; let it be so retired that we
can " go to the grave to weep there," and at the same time hold
silent converse with the sad but gentle memories of former days,
secure from intrusion or the unfeeling gaze of an unfeeling world ;
let this be so, and will it not be a powerful auxiliary in perpetuating
the memory of those we are too prone to forget ? And if there is
benefit to be derived from such a remembrance thus kept alive in
the soul, — and who can doubt it ? — then will that benefit be greatly
promoted by carrying into execution the enterprise you have this
day commenced under auspices so favorable.
Such a spot as a place of resort will exe7-t a chastened and sub-
dued influence upon the public mind. I would, however, make no
unfounded claims. I know how readily men can become accus-
tomed to the most powerful influences, and how often we see them
fail of being favorably affected by those agencies whose legitimate
tendency it would seem must be good. The Bible, the Sabbath,
and the sanctuary, adapted and designed to become a savor of life
unto life unto the human soul — how often do they become but a
savor of death unto death ! So have we reason to fear that even
the sacred influence of tlds solemn spot will often fail of leaving
its legitimate impression upon the character, and yet we have reason
to hope that the general eSect will be good.
To one source I have already referred, in speaking of the agency
of such a place in perpetuating the memory of departed friends.
Sad, indeed, but of a softening and subduing power are the solemn
HISTORY OF NATICK. 117
remembrances of the lost, but unforgotten dead. They steal over
the soul, dark and chill it may be as the shadow of the passing
cloud of ^n autumn day, and yet shedding upon us influences that
make us prize more highly the bright sunshine thus temporarily
obscured. The sorrows and afflictions of life have been called the
medicine of the soul. Well then would it be if the hallowed sad-
ness of the death of friends could be perpetuated, and its chastening
influences be extended a greater distance along its pathway. What-
ever breaks the power of the present and exalts either the ])ast or
the future, in our contemplation, is doing a good service to the soul.
The brute lives only in the present, remembers but little of the past,
and thinks not at all of the future. Man too much resembles the
brute. He lives too exclusively in the present, and it requires a
voice, more potent than any earthly voice, to wake him from his
trance and make him recognize his spiritual and immortal nature.
That voice, next to the call of religion, comes loudest from the
grave where lie buried his fondest hopes, his strongest affection.
Here, then, let the sorrowing children of grief often come, to
wake up in their souls those mournful but salutary emotions which
may do them good. Here let the bereaved husband come, and by
the grave of his youthful love call up the sad but grateful recollec-
tions of the past. Let him come with his motherless children, and
by that grave recall to their memory the virtues of the sleeper there,
a,nd speak of that future hour when they too must make their lowly
beds close by her side ; and will his race after lionor, wealth, or
2yleasure, be quite so keen and absorbing ? Will not those children
leave that spot with some healthful impressions for the future ?
Jjet parents often come here to bedew the graves of their fondly
loved and early lost. Let the brother here stand by the grave of a
sister, and a sister of a brother. And shall not healing influences
gently distil upon their souls while here ? Will they not follow them
as they go away ?
But not alone from the sad remembrance of cav]j friends may we
hope for salutary influences from a place like this. The solemn
associations that necessarily cluster around the last resting-place of
the congregated dead can hardly fail of doing him good who is often
found lingering within the sacred precincts of the tomb. Here let
the votary of pleasure, seduced by the syren voice of the subtle
118 HISTORY OF NATICK.
charmer — here let hira who is hasting to be rich, or him whose
fevered brain throbs with the mad schemes of ambition — let them
Come vieTv the ground
Where they must shortly lie ;
And can they leave the place without having their hold on this
world weakened, and themselves made more thoughtful on topics of
greater and more worthy moment ? Here too let the child of sorrow
and disappointment, whose plans have been thwarted, and whose
most cherished hopes have been blasted, who, sick at heart, is ready
to despair of ever again seeing good — let such a one come and
stand here as on the dividing line between the two worlds, time and
eternity ; let him view the infinite disparity between the two — the
one he must so soon leave, the other he is so soon to try, with all its
strange and mysterious uncertainty ; and will he not find in the
contemplation something to rectify his inadequate conceptions of the
relative value of things present and things to come — the light afflic-
tions of the present moment with that immortal destiny that awaits
him in the world to come ?
For it is surely pertinent in this connection to say that it will be
of little value to form correct notions of the uncertainty of earthly
things, and the infinite folly of fastening our affections on objects so
fleeting and unsubstantial, if this be all. That, of itself, will but
reveal wants we have no means of supplying, and dangers we have
no means of averting. If now this were all, if we could look no
farther than the tomb, if death interposed an impenetrable barrier
between us and the future, and the grave covered all our hopes as
well as the objects of our love, then perhaps it were well to forget
as soon as possible the sorrows of life, the bereavements of Provi-
dence. When grief is so bootless perhaps it were well not to grieve.
And yet it is not to be concealed, that whatever adornings you or
your posterity may bestow upon it, this will be to you and them a
mournful spot. You may rear the monumental marble of more
than Parian whiteness and beauty, the funeral cypress may bend
over the ashes of the sleepers here, and the choicest flowers may
here shed their sweetest fragrance, and yet no other place will be so
sad as this. Here more than anywhere else will life's fondest hopes
fade from the soul — here will earth's bitterest tears be shed. And
often to this spot will your thoughts and mournful gaze be turned,
HISTORY OF NATICK. 119
as if all of hope and joy were buried here. If now no light from
any source shall illumine this darkness, how great is this darkness ;
if no hope shall dawn on this scene of desolation, then perhaps it
were well for us to turn our eye as much as possible from its gloom,
and with the epicurean exclaim, Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow
we die.
But the prospect is not so cheerless. Christianity has dawned
upon this dark world. The Sun of Righteousness has arisen with
healing in his wings, and has shed its light not only on the pathway
of life^ but has pierced the darkness of the tomb, and opened up to
the believer's eye a rich inheritance in reserve for him above — an
inheritance of joy, unspeakable and full of glory. Yes, in the lan-
guage of the poet, once sceptical, now believing, and who when
sceptical could exclaim, with pathetic doubt.
But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn ?
O, when shall day dawn on the night of the grave ?
but believing, could say, with the ecstasy of the Christian's joy :
Now darkness and doubt are flying away,
No longer I roam, in conjecture forlorn ;
So breaks on the traveller, faint and astray,
The bright and balmy effulgence of morn.
See, truth, love and mercy, in triumph descending.
And nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom !
On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending,
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.
Yes, Christianity points to another world. It has brought life and
immortality to light, and in the glorious track of the ascending
Saviour has revealed the only way by which we may enter upon this
rich and enduring possession.
How solemn the scene, how affecting the service in which we are
engaged. We stand upon the spot, now to be conscrated, for all
coming time, to the undisturbed repose and possession of the dead.
Many of you stand among your own future sepulchres, your feet
press upon your own graves. After a few more brief years of
weary toil and anxious pursuit, of short-lived joy and bitter disap-
pointment, you are here to make your \o\\\j beds. Here you are
to sleep that long and dreamless sleep that knows no waking, till,
startled by the archangel's voice, you hear, as
120 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Nearer yet, and yet more dread,
Sounds the loud trump that wakes the dead,
the summons to appear before His bar, from whose lips shall fall
the irreversible sentence that shall decide your destiny for eternity.
Change, progress, and decay, shall mark all else ; but they ■will
pass lightly over this abode of death. Generation after generation
•will Come on to the stage of active life, to cultivate, enrich, and
adorn the dwelling places of the living, and pay their yearly tribute
to this place of sepulchre ; and yet light change -will be witnessed
here. The forest over your heads will indeed in the spring put on its
garniture of flowers, and in the autumn be dressed in the " sober
livery " of the waning year ; and by its successive growth and
decay will stand an expressive monitor of man's destiny on earth ;
while new and more beaten paths, new graves and new monuments,
shall speak of the ceaseless ravages of the great enemy, and pro-
claim that the unrevoked doom is still in force — " Dust thou art and
unto dust shall thou return;" and yet all the marked and beau-
tiful features of Dell Park Cemetery will remain the same as you
see them now — aye
Till the last syllable of recorded time
shall bring to an end the drama of life, and usher in the tremen-
dous scenes of the eternal world. Happy will they be, who, sleep-
ing here, shall meet with joy that final consummation of all things,
and gladly welcome
That great day for which aU other days were made.
At the close of the services, the choir united in singing the hymn
composed by Rev. John Pierpont, for the consecration of Mount
Auburn.
To thee, O God ! in humble trust,
Our hearts their cheerful incense bum ;
For this thy Avord, "Thou art of dust,
And unto dust shalt thou return."
The exercises were closed by prayer by the Rev. Mr. "Watson, of
the Baptist church, and the benediction by Rev. Nathaniel Norris.
There are two burying places in town once used by the Indians,
"Where the rude children of the forest sleep."
HISTORY OF NATICK. 121
•
The one on Pond street is enclosed, and the boundaries of it are
marked by a picketed fence. That at South Natick, is the vacant
space around the monument to John Eliot. Its boundaries have
been ascertained to be nearly as follows :
Beginning at the oak tree on the east side of the South meeting-
house, by a straight line running north of the meeting-house, to the
northeast corner of the front yard of the house recently owned by
Dr. Chandler ; thence following the fence in front of that dwelling
house, and a few feet in front of the neighboring house, in a straight
line by the Eliot House and store adjacent ; thence in a straight line
towards the present residence of Moses Eames, Esq., to the centre
of the front yard of the house opposite Mr. Eames's ; thence east
by a straight line to the place of beginning.
CHAPTER XII.
Statistical History. Inhauitants of Natick. Population at Different
Periods. Valuation. Taxation. Education. California Emigration.
The inhabitants of this place are hardy, frugal, and industrious
mechanics, and cultivators of the soil. The facilities enjoyed here
for mechanical pursuits, have gathered a somewhat dense population,
mostly from New Hampshire and Maine.
By recurring to the list of the proprietors of the town, in 1782,
and to the list of voters of 1855, it will be seen that the names
which were the most numerous then, are the same now ; while there
is scarce a name which appears on that list, but it may be now found
among the voters. The Travises, Sawins, Morses, Broads, Perrys,
Bacons, Drurys, who took care of Natick in its infancy, have repre-
sentatives guarding it from harm in its manhood. While there can-
not be said to be any prevailing name in town, the dweller of almost
any place would feel as though among his own kindred. An inhabi-
tant of Wayland might find, his next-door neighbor a Heard or a
Sherman. One from Sherborn would be thronged by Coolidges and
Lelands, and the hand of a Fuller would be grasped by a visitor
from Newton or Needham. AYe have Rices, Eameses, Moultons,
Hemenways, to remind us of Framingham ; Moores, Bartletts,
Wheelers, Browns, of Concord ; and Smiths, to extend our thoughts
over the whole earth.
The name of the first clerk and first selectman of the town, was
Eben Felch, whose grandson, now living, is the oldest man in town.
This name has always been numerous in town, and now numbers
10 on the list of voters. One of the three villages has received
the name of Felchville, from its having been the residence of this
family.
Samuel Morse was for many years town clerk, the first repre-
sentative of the town, and largest land-owner. Those who bear his
name are more numerous than any others of one name in town.
They number 26 on the list of voters.
HISTORY OF NATICK, 123
Capt. David Morse settled on land near the village in South Na-
tick, in the year 1727. His name appears among the first white
settlers of this town, in the published Memorial of the Morses.
When the white inhabitants had become numerous enough to form a
military company, he was appointed captain. In 1746, when the
plantation of Natick was to be erected into a parish, he was em-
powered by the General Court to call the first meeting. He seems
long to have been a leader among the whites and Indians.
The descendants of the first white settler, Thomas Sawin, who
bear his name, are not as numerous as some others. They still occupy
the farms formed from the tract of land he obtained from the Indi-
ans, and are, as was their ancestor, tillers of the soil as well as
owners of mills. The first settler, mentioned above, with three
brothers, came over to this country from England soon after the
restoration of Charles II. They first settled in Watertown. Not
being fully satisfied Avith their place of residence, they soon moved
to other parts. One of them, Thomas Sawin, went to Sherborn,
and built a saw-mill in the western part of the town. The Natick
Indians becoming acquainted with him, and being desirous of
having a corn-mill within the limits of their own plantation,
entered into an agreement with him to remove to Natick. They
granted to him a lot of land, including a mill-site in the south part,
now owned by Mr. Thomas Sawin. The conditions of this grant
were such that he was to erect a mill for the benefit of the Indians.
White men could have their corn ground, but Indians were to have
the preference. They could even demand that the white men's corn
should be taken from the hopper to give place to theirs. This condition
is to-day inoperative only because the Indian race is extinct. The
deed conveying the land and the mill-site is dated March 17, 1685-6.
The first grant not being adequate to his wants, another was ob-
tained, the deed of which is dated August 18, 1686. Both deeds
are still preserved.
The property conveyed by these two deeds to Thomas Sawin, was
inherited by his son John, by his son Thomas, by his son Moses, by
his son Moses, who sold the same to its present owner. The fifth
generation was the first to alienate the property by a new deed. It
is now, however, in the hands of a lineal descendant of the fii?st
proprietor.
From the great grandson of the first settler about 100 persons
have descended, 86 of whom are still living.
124 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Twelve persons are found among the voters, of the name of Bacon.
This has always bsen a numerous family, and now numbers more
than any others, except the Morses.
The legal voters, descendants of the Perrys, number 10 ; of the
Travises, 6 ; of the Manns, 7 ; of the Coolidges, 9 ; of the Broads,
5 ; of the Fisks, 8.
The names of Stone, Drury, Goodnow, Biglow, Jennings, and
Jennison, may still be traced on the records ; while of those whose
names have been heard in town at only a comparatively recent date,
those of Walcott and Hays are the most numerous. Five brothers of
the former name, the eldest of -whom came to this place about twenty-
seven years since, have been actively engaged in manufacturing
pursuits.
We have many George Washingtons in reserve for future patriots,
Lincolns for Generals, Howards for philanthropists, and John
Adamses, John Quincy Adamses, and Benjamin Franklins, for states-
men and philosophers ; but it is believed that should the times and
circumstances not give them the reputation accorded to those whose
names they bear, they will not generally consider it the result of
envy or of ingratitude on the part of their fellow citizens.
POPULATION.
The population of Natick has increased more rapidly than that of
most towns in the State, since the commencement of the present
century. Previous to 1790, it was always less than 600. The
Indian population, we have seen, attained its greatest height about
the year 1700. From that time, cut off by sickness, and fleeing
from the restraints of civilization and the neighborhood of the Eng-
lish, they slowly diminished, until in 1749 they numbered only 166.
The white population increased very gradually from 1722, the date
which marks the time of its settlement by white famihes in any
numbers, to 1800, at which time it amounted to 694 individuals.
From 1800 to 1855, it has added 3,441 to its population. In 1810
it contained 766 ; in 1820, 849 ; in 1830, 890 ; in 1840, 1,285 ;
in 1850, it had a population of 2,816. The census of the State
just taken, makes its population now 4,135.
Some items of interest relating to the population prior to the
taking the first United States census in 1790, 1 have gathered from
HISTORY OF NATICK. 125
several State censuses, which, although they have long since disap-
peared from the office of the Secretary of State, have been found,
some entire, others in fragments, among the private manuscripts of
men deceased, and in the newspapers of that period.
The first census taken in Massachusetts was in the year 1764.
Although required by the British government, it encountered much
opposition and superstitious fear. The same results to the colony as
followed the numbering of the people of Israel were predicted.
When the opposition had been overcome the following form was de-
cided upon, which I have filled out for Natick :
White people under 16 years of age, i _' ' *
^ ^ ^ ° ' ( Females, 120.
White people above 16, | ^^ ^^' '
^ ^ ' ( Females, 122.
Total white population, 450.
Negroes and Mulattoes, i !?^^®^,' "^"^' ! Total, 24.
( Females, 13. )
Indians, ) ' ' [ 37 families. Total, 185.
( Females, 9o. )
In 1776, when the revolutionary war begun, the population was
535. In 1777, there were 126 males more than 16 years of age.
In the valuation of 1778 there were 120 polls. In that of 1781,
there were 140. In 1755, Natick contained three slaves only.
Slavery, which for some time was an established institution of
Massachusetts, never prevailed to any extent in Natick. The soil
and climate were unfavorable to the existence of this class of persons,
and the " pecuhar institution " quickly died out within its limits.
The adoption of the State constitution which abolished slavery in
Massachusetts, found very few, if any, within the limits of Natick.
VALUATION.
Since the year 1783 decennial valuations have been made by the
authority of the State, the year after the taking of the census.
From the returns of the assessors and the census reports I have
compiled the following facts in relation to the past valuation of
Natick. This valuation gives the following for each decennial period
126 HISTORY OF NATICK.
since 1790. For 1791, §4,221.22; for 1801, $6,093.07; for
1811, S8,G20.93 ; for 1821, $10,487.39. For the valuation of
1831 a different basis vras adopted. Previous to this it will be seen
that the amounts must have been six per cent, of the whole property
of the town. In the valuations of 1831, 1841, and 1851, the entire
estimated value of the property of the town is presented. They
were respectively $234,624, $282,935.65, $916,210.
' TAXATION.
There is no subject which awakens so general an interest in town
as that of taxation. When taxes are levied by the citizens for
objects in which all may be supposed to have an interest, there is
nothing degrading in the act of payment. When imposed by
others, for objects unexplained, or foreign to themselves, their town
or country, a sense of debasement follows those who are the subjects
of it, marking them as slaves to themselves, and to all who possess a
knowledge of the transaction. It is no wonder then that the most
intense interest has ever been manifested whenever new taxes have
been levied either upon town, country, province, or State.
Natick paid its first State tax in 1746. The amount of it was
£28 10s. Other taxes had been assessed on the other towns
in the province as far back as 1633, but Natick, from reasbns
apparent to every one, escaped until the date above named. Prop-
erty being then as now the basis of taxation, a statement of the
taxes paid at the same time by surrounding towns, whose compara-
tive standing now is well known, will give an idea of the present
increase of property in town.
The year above named in which Natick paid the tax mentioned,
Medway paid £94 13s. 8d. ; Needham, £99 18s. Id. ; Hull, £63
13s.; Holliston, £82 8s. 3d.; Weston, £137 16s. 6d. In 1751
Natick paid a province tax of £41 4s. Hopkinton paid, the same
year, £74 10s. ; Sherburne, £83 17s. In the year 1755 Natick
paid a tax to the Province of £50 2s. ; Lincoln at the same time
was assessed £106 8s. 4d. ; Stow, £88 4s. ; Needham, £132
18s. ; Hull, £61 13s.
The proportion of Natick in a tax of £1000, levied in 1761, was
£1 14s. 9d. In a similar tax of 1772, £1 lis. 5|d.
After the close of the revolutionary war and the adoption of the
HISTORY OF NATICK. 127
Federal Constitution, the debt incurred by the -war was to be paid,
and the assessments on the towns in consequence were greatly
increased.
Natick was assessed in the year 1781, X561 5s.
" " " " 1786, X184 18s. 3d.
« " " " 1791, .£41 Is. lid.
•On the 31st of May, 1794, Congress assumed the State debt of
Massachusetts, and thus put an end to such heavy assessments on
the tonns. Since that time until the present, State taxes at different
times have been levied.
In the year 1796 Natick paid $181.11
1810
158.66
1820
154.67
1830
93.00
1844
78.55
1853
531.00
1854
531.00
The present year the State tax is 796.50
In the last item, at the year 1796, we are agreeably surprised by
a change in the currency. " Exeunt pounds and enter dollars!"
This is the first insignia of American independence used in the
estimates of the annual town expenses. There had been, previous
to the introduction of the continental bills, but one other consid-
erable change in the currency of Massachusetts. The English
money was in common circulation from the first settlement of the
country, except during a period of forty-eight years, from 1702 to
1750, when a paper currency was introduced into New England
by the Colonial Government, bearing on the face of the bills the
promise of future redemption, which promises were met, like those
of the Continental Congress, only with new emissions.
The money which is now known as " old tenor " sunk in value so
as to compare with corn, which was distinguished as lawful money in
Massachusetts, 7^ to 1 ; in some other parts of New England
even lower. The " old tenor" currency was a monetary invention
to meet the expenses of the French war, and in 1750 Parliament
reimbursed Massachusetts for her exertions during that war by send-
ing over a large sum of money, all in silver. With this specie Gov.
128 HISTORY OF NATIC'K.
Hutchinson proposed to redeem the bills of credit, which was done,
and" old tenor" bills became an illegal tender and deceptive cur-
rency. It was subsequently enacted, " That no person should com-
mence a suit at law, or be ehgible to any office of honor or profit,
without taking an oath that he had taken no paper money since
1760."
EDUCATION.- .
The amount of general intelligence and literary cultivation in this
town is somewhat remarkable. Proof is abundant that in all periods
of its history the inhabitants have properly estimated the importance
of providing for the education of all classes of its citizens. Many
of the men who were inhabitants of Natick during the last half of
the last century, were not only possessed of strong common sense,
but of a good degree of education, as is apparent from the resolu-
tions passed at their meetings, in the bold, neat specimens of chirog-
raphy exhibited in the handwriting of each successive town clerk,
and by the enthusiasm ever exhibited in those town meetings in
which any subject relating either to their schools or their minister
was introduced.
We can enumerate among the natives of the town, eight clergy-
men, one professor of a college, three lawyers, and twenty-nine
teachers of academies of common schools.
From 1797 to 1819, $600 was appropriated yearly by the town
for schools ; in 1846-7, $900. In 1850 the town raised $1000.
In 1851 the town appropriated $1,500
" 1852 " " 1,500
" 1853 « « 1,500
" 1854 " " 2,600
" 1855 " " 3,600
In April, 1852, the town voted to estabhsh a high school, and
appropriated $1000 for its support. This has for the three years
of its existence been under the charge of Abner Rice, A. M., who
previous to his employment here was for seven years Principal of
the Warren Academy in Woburn. Grammar, Arithmetic, and the
History of the United States, are required to be studied. Candi-
dates for admission are required to pass a satisfactory examination in
HISTORY OF NATICK. 129
reading, writing, spelling, geography, arithmetic through fractions,
and in the elements of English grammar. This school has now
become a part of the system of education provided for from the
treasury of the town, and it is considered as indispensable as any
other schools of a lower grade.
A reference to the last five reports of the Secretary of the Board
of Education will show Natick occupying a respectable position
among her sister towns of the State in her provisions for the educa-
tional interests of her citizens.
Previous to the year 1852 the town supported no incorporated
academy or high school. Since the fall of 1820 several terms of a
high school have been kept in town. John Angier established one
at that time ; Othniel Dinsmore succeeded him in the fall of 1821.
Charles Forbush taught a school of this kind during the first six
months of 1832 ; Rev. Daniel Wight several succeeding terms until
1837 ; Rev. Samuel Damon, now Seaman's Chaplain at Honolulu,
Sandwich Islands, the autumn of 1841 ; Charles Dickson the years
of 1837-38; and John W. Bacon, Esq., the fall of 1843.
Before 1834 the town was divided into five school districts. There
are now seven — No. 6 (Little South) having been created from No.
2 (Centre), and No. 7 (Felchville) from No. 4 (Walnut Hill).
The schools in District No. 2 are divided into five diflferent
departments of fifty pupils each, according to scholarship ; each
teacher, thus having a small number of classes under her charge, is
able to devote more time to each.
Of the money appropriated for schools in town $40 is given to
each district, and the remainder divided among the districts accord-
ing to the number of scholars.
A review of the grants of the town for schools indicates a deter-
mination on the part of the citizens to keep pace in their appropria-
tions with the increase of the population. There seems to be an
intelligent understanding of the wants of the schools. No private
prejudices, misrepresentation, or misapprehension, have as yet suc-
ceeded in breaking down or crippling these pillars ot the Republic
in the town.
By the statute of the Commonwealth it is required of all instruc-
tors of youth, " that they exert their best endeavors to impress on
the minds of the children and youth, committed to their care and
instruction, the principles of piety, justice, and a sacred regard for
9
130 HISTORY OF NATX'K.
truth, love to their country, humanity and universal benevolence,
sobriety, industry, and frugality, charity, moderation, and temper-
ance, and those other virtues which are the ornament of human
society, and the basis upon -which a republican constitution is
founded." It is not too much to say of the teachers of this town,
that such generally have been their endeavors, and such the influ-
ence they have exerted.
CALIFORNIA EMIGRATION.
The discovery of gold in California produced the same effects here
as in other portions of the country. A larger proportion of young
men belondne; to Natick left for this modern El Dorado than from
the surrounding towns.
Several vessels departed from Boston within a few months with
Natick young men for passengers. Crowds on these occasions
thronged the Avharves, the light laugh and merry jest were heard
from the lookers-on, and among the adventurers were a few who
smiled a last farewell, and joined in the hearty shout that thrilled
like the peal of a trumpet as the vessels were parted from their
fastenings. But there were other and sadder scenes ; gentleness and
love had their home in some of those daring hearts, and many a
voice trembled with emotion, and eye filled with tears as a fair white
hand was clasped for the last time, or a sacred kiss was impressed
upon cheeks that paled at the thoughts and associations of that
tender, passionate, and yet sorrow-fraught moment. The mother
parted from her son, the husband from his wife, the lover from his
betrothed. We will not attempt to describe the Scenes ; suffice it to
say that most have returned, and the enterprise has been the means
of placing in the hands of a large number the means of doing busi-
ness, and added to the taxable property of the town.
The first vessel in which young men from Natick sailed was the
ship Argonaut. It left Boston Oct. 30th, 1849, and carried the
following persons, belonging to Natick, as passengers :
Thomas H. Brigham, Taylor Clough, C. C. Perry, David Clough,
A. T. Sloper, Wm. Knowlton, Alonzo Gould, Richard Jenniss, A.
Moody, S. B. Hayes, Simon Mulligan.
In November of 1849 the Reindeer sailed and carried W. W.
Hardy, George Stone, Samuel Whiting, Thomas Whiting, G. W.
Peirce, W. C. Childs, C. A. Davis, George Travis.
CHAPTER XIII.
Official History. Town Officers. List op Selectmen. Town Clerks.
Representatives. Attorneys at Law. Physicians.
In 1782, the town was incorporated, with all the privileges and
immunities of surrounding towns. The municipal organization of
towns at that period was nearly the same as at present. The town
clerk, in addition to his other duties, was authorized to issue summons
and those writs of attachments which are now within the jurisdiction
of Justices of the Peace. " Commissioners for the ending of small
matters " were chosen, whose office was similar to that of Justices
of the Peace. From five to seven men were chosen each year, and
styled Town Committee. It was their duty to manage all the pru-
dential concerns of the town. This committee answers to our present •
selectmen.
The office of constable was one of the most important in town.
They were paid for their services by a salary from the town, and
acted as collectors of the taxes. We find the names of David Morse,
William Coolidge, Oliver Bacon, Abijah Stratton, Thomas Ellis, at
different times among the constables chosen by the town.
Tithing-men, an office now extinct, were each year chosen by the
town till 1835.
It was a prevailing custom in town to choose those men who the
preceding year had been married, to the office of "hog reeves,"
which has been their designation since 1745. Clerks of the market,
an office not now known, and the duties of which in a town of only
one thousand inhabitants it is difficult to conjecture, were chosen until
about 1800. Deer reeves and fish officers, the duties of which
are indicated by their names, were chosen until 1786. A school
committee was first chosen in 1797. It consisted of Lieut. David
Morse, John Sawin, Jr., Capt. Asa Drury, and John Felch.
A list of persons serving as selectmen from the year 1745 to the
present time, with the names of those who have represented the
town in the Legislature, its town clerks, and deputies, will be here
inserted for the inspection of the curious in these matters.
132
HISTORY OF NATICK.
Eben Felch,
Edward Ward,
John Goodnow,
Timothy Bacon,
John Coolidge,
Jonathan Carver, ■
Thomas Ellis,
Robert Jennison,
John Winn,
Moses Fisk,
Joseph Mills,
Stephen Bacon,
Samv;el Perry,
Jonathan Richardson,
Pelatiah Morse,
Isaac Goodnow,
Samuel Morse,
-Isaac Underwood,
Mark Whitney,
Ephraim Jennings,
Micah Whitney,
John Felch,
William Boden,
Thomas Sawin,
James Mann,
Oliver Bacon,
Henry Loker,
Elijah Bacon,
Abel Perry,
Joshua Twitchell,
Jonathan Russell,
Daniel Whitney,
Richard Rice,
Timothy Morse,
Thomas Broad,
Isaac Morrill,
Abel Perry,
Elijah Esty,
Hezekiah Broad,
David Morse,
Samuel Perry, Jr.,
Daniel Travis,
John Atkins,
Luther Broad,
George Whitney,
Nathan Haynes,
Abel Drury,
John Bacon, Jr.,
Elijah Perry,
Calvin Leland,
Moses Sawin,
Edward Hammond,
Dr. Alexander Thayer,
Ebenezer Whitney,
WiUiam Coohdge,
Calvin Shepherd,
John Travis,
John Bacon, 2d,
Abraham Bigelow,
William Farris, Esq.,
- Samuel Fiske, Esq.,
Dexter Drury,
Chester Adams,
Dr. Stephen H. Spaulding,
John Bacon, 3d,
Phares Sawin,
Ephraim Jennings,
Amory Morse,
Leonard Perry,
William Stone,
Amasa Morse,
Willard Drury,
Charles Bigelow,
Isaac Jennison,
Alexander Cooledge,
Elijah Perry, Jr.,
Steadman Hartwell,
John Kimball,
HISTORY OF NATICK.
133
-Joshua Fisk,
Abijah Stratton,
Ephraim Dana,
Timothy Morse,
Asa Drury,
William Bigelow,
Samuel Morse,
Samuel Perry,
Eliakim Morrill,
Nathan Stone,
Thomas Sawin,
Aaron Smith,
William Goodnow,
David Bacon,
John Mann,
Abel Perry, Jr.,
-William Farriss,
Jonathan Rice,
Asa Drury,
-Moses Fisk,
Eben Felch,
Pelatiah Morse,
Stephen Bacon,
Thomas Sawin,
Micah Whitney,
Elijah Goodnow,
Hezekiah Broad,
Daniel Morse,
Elijah Bacon,
Abijah Stratton,
William Richards,
Jonathan B. Mann,
Thomas F. Hammond,
Oliver Bacon,
Ephraim Brigham,
A. W. Sanford,
Asher Parlin,
John J. Perry, —
Nathan Rice,
I. D. Morse,
Isaac Felch,
Edward Walcott, Esq.,
Elisha P. Hollis,
Benj. F. Ham, Esq.,
William B. Parmenter,
Dexter Washburn,
Lewis Beal,
Nathan Reed,
Sherondon B. Hayes.
TOWN CLERKS.
Thomas Sawin, Jr.,
Lemuel Morse,
William Goodnow, Esq.,
Jonathan Bacon,
Samuel Fisk, Esq.,
William Farriss, Esq.,
Dea. Oliver Bacon,
Chester Adams, Esq.,
Amasa Morse,
Benjamin F. Ham, Esq.
Hezekiah Broad was the deputy of the town to the convention for
adopting the Constitution of the United States ; Jonathan Bacon,
to the Convention for revising the Constitution of Massachusetts in
1820.
The following is a list of persons who have represented the town
in the State legislature. The town for many years was not rcpre-
134 HISTORY OF NATICK.
sented. The fine for not sending was one hundred dollars ; but it
was never prosecuted ; and, having its own representative to pay,
the town chose to incur the risk, and in dollars and cents was so
much the gainer.
It was a common custom for representatives chosen to "treat"
all their fellow-citizens at the bar of the neighboring tavern. We
find it recorded that Chester Adams gave $25 one year to one of
the school districts upon condition of his being excused from this
practice.
Samuel Morse, Aaron Sanford,
Moses Fisk, Nathaniel Clark,
-Abel Perry, Henry Wilson,
William Farriss, John Travis,
Chester Adams, John Kimball,
Steadman Hartwell, Nathaniel Smith.
ATTORNEYS AT LAW.
But very few of this class of citizens have ever made Natick their
place of residence, the town clerks having done the greater part of
the business appropriately belonging to that profession. But it is
probable that gentlemen of the profession in neighboring towns have
not been losers by this fact just mentioned. It is usually attributed
to the peaceable disposition of the people, and a regard for their own
welfare.
Ira Cleavland was the first of the profession who opened an office
in the place; but not obtaining sufficient encouragement, he soon
after removed to Dedham, where he has since been engaged in a
successful practice.
John W. Bacon entered the practice here in 1846. He was born
in Natick in the year 1818, July 12, graduated at Harvard College
in 1843. He received his legal education in the law school at Cam-
bridge, and in the office of Charles T. Russell, Esq., Boston. He
was admitted to the Bar in 1846, and has since been endeavoring to
persuade the citizens of Natick that the strict enforcement of law,
in most cases, is the best method of securing permanent peace and
prosperity.
Benjamm F. Ham has been in the practice in this place for the
HISTORY OF NATICK. 135
last three years. He was born at Farmington, County of Strafford,
and State of New Hampshire, July 2, 1823. He studied law with
John W. Bacon, Esq., was admitted to the Bar at the March term
of the Court of Common Pleas, holden at Concord, 1852.
Oliver N. Bacon has just opened an office here. He has been
engaged for several seasons as a teacher ; studied law a portion of
the term in the office of John W. Bacon, Esq., the remainder in
that of Lyman Mason, Esq., in Boston.
PHY SICI ANS.
Previous to 1645 the healing art in town was in the hands of
Indian doctors and doctresses, of some of whom we have accounts.
One, Joshua Bran, was the most celebrated of whom we have any
notice. Traces of his residence, — an old well, and the remains of
a cellar, — were a few years since to be seen a few rods to the east
of the house of Mr. Oliver Bacon. His wife survived him many
years, and was generally employed as a nurse among the inhabitants
of the place.
Isaac Morrill, son of the Rev. Mr. Morrill, formerly minister of
Wilmington, Mass., came to the town in 1771. He died in Need-
ham about the year 1840.
Asa Adams came to Natick in 1782 and remained ten or twelve
years. He then removed to Wolf boro', where he died.
Alexander Thayer, a native of Milford, Mass., came to Natick to
reside in 1813. He passed two years of the collegiate course in
Harvard University. He afterwards attended medical lectures at
Dartmouth, and received the degree of M. D. He died in 1824.
John Angier, a native of Southboro', came to Natick in 1817,
and continued to practise until about 1830. He afterwards removed
to Framingham where he died.
Stephen H. Spaulding was engaged in the practice of medicine
here from 1823 to 1840.
John Hoyt, who is now the physician longest resident in the
place, was born 24th of July, 1817, in the town of Sandwich, County
of Carroll, State of New Hampshire, received his medical education
in the medical school at Hanover, N. H., and in the offices of Drs.
Enos Hoyt and Dixe Crosby, of New Hampshire, removed to
Framingham in June, 1840, and to Natick in the following October,
where he has since resided.
136 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Adino B. Hall, born in Northtield, N. H., in 1819, studied with
Dr. Enos Hojt, of Sanbornton Bridge, N. H., and Dr. Otis Hoyt,
of Framingham, Mass. He opened an office in Kingston about the
year 1816, removed to Natick in 1849, -where he continued about
three and a half years. He has since visited Europe and is now
again in the practice in Boston.
Ira Russell was born in Rindge, N. H., Nov. 9th, 1815, grad-
uated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1841, studied medicine
with Dr. Crosby, of Hanover, N. H., and Alvah Godding, of
Winchendon, Mass., graduated in medicine at the University of
New York in March of 1844, and entered the practice the same
year in Winchendon, where he remained nine years. In 18-53, by
an invitation from several of the citizens of the town, he was induced
to open an office in Natick, where he still is in practice.
George J. Townsend was a native of Roxbury, Mass., was born
in the year 1820, graduated at Harvard College in the class of
1842. His office is in the south part of the town.
Walcott C. Chandler, for several years a physician at South
Natick, was admitted a member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society in 1840, and died in 1848. .
Moses P. Cleavland came to this place from New Hampshire in
1838, remained two years, and died in 1840. He was a son of Prof.
Cleavland, Me., and a graduate of Bowdoin College.
There was at one time in the west part of Natick a white native
of the name of John Badger, to whom the people decreed the title
of doctor, and often employed in their families and stables. His
wonderful cures were wrought solely by roots and herbs, which he
gathered himself. Very few of the natives of the town have earned
so widely an extended fame, his pretensions and cures being familiar
to people even in the neighboring States.
CHAPTER XIY.
Biographical Notice of College Geaduates and other Inditiduals
BELONGING TO NaTICK.
In the following notices, where no other name is mentioned, Har-
vard College is to be understood. It is quite possible that some
have escaped the search of the author, whose names are upon Col-
lege catalogues as belonging to Natick. If such should be the case,
he can only say that much labor and care have been expended by
him to make the list complete and accurate in all its particulars.
Oliver Peabody was graduated in 1745. He was a son of the
Natick minister of that name, and was settled in the ministry at
Roxbury.
Nathaniel Battelle graduated in 1765. He inherited considerable
landed property, and devoted his attention chiefly to agriculture.
He died in 1816, in Maiden, Mass.
Ephraim Drury graduated in 1776. He commenced the study
of medicine, but died before completing his course.
William Bigelow graduated in 1794. He was well known in
college, and long afterwards, as Sawney Bigelow. He was born in
Weston, Mass., Sept. 22, 1773. When about one and a half years
old his father removed to Natick. He was employed as a classical
teacher in Salem, and as Master of the Boston Public Latin School.
He published books for pupils, and brief histories of Natick and
Sherborn, and was a liberal contributor to periodicals. His con-
versation and his verses were often very pleasant and humorous.
He retained his rhyming propensities and his humor as long as he
lived. For several years before his death he was accustomed to
prepare a poem for each annual dinner of the Phi Beta Kappa
Society. On one occasion he produced great effect, when he was
(juite aged, by solemnly beginning his poem with the words :
"You'd scarce expect one of my age," &c.
He died Jan. 12, 1844, in Boston,of apoplexy, with which he was
138 HISTORY OF NATICK,
seized on the 10th. His remains rest in Natick, to ■which he "was
always attached with strong ties.
He left many warm friends who charitably overlooked his infirm-
ities and lamented the departure of one, who while correcting proof
sheets during the last years of his life, was often heard to say —
" I have tried hard to correct my own errors, but not always so
successfully as I can correct the errors of others." The famous
declamation of Charles Chatterbox, published in the school books
nearly half a century since, anonymously, was a production of his
pen.
The last words of Charles Chatterbox, Esq., were a poetical
effusion. It is entitled " A Will ; being the last words of a worthy
and lamented member of the Laughing Club of Cambridge, who
departed college life June 24, 1794, being the date at which he
himself graduated."
" I, Charley Chatter, sound of mind,
To making fun am much inclined ;
So having cause to apprehend
My college life is near an end.
All future quarrels to prevent,
I seal this vrill and testament.
My soul and body, while together,
I send the storms of life to weather.
To steer as safely as they can,
To honor God and profit man.
Imprimis, then, my bed and bedding,
My only chattels worth the sledding.
Consisting of a maple stead,
A counterpane and coverlet,
Two cases "with the pillows in,
A blanket, cord, a Avinch and pin.
Two sheets, a feather-bed and hay-tick,
I order sledded up to Natick.
And that with care the sledder save them.
For those kind parents first who gave them,
Itetn. The Laughing Club so blest,
Who think this life what 't is, a jest.
Collect its flowers from every spray.
And throw its goading thorns away, —
From whom to-morrow I dissever.
Take one sweet grin and leave forever —
My chest and all that in it is,
I give and I bequeathe them, Adz :
Westminster Grammar, old and poor.
Another one compiled by Moore,
HISTOKY OF NATICK. 139
A bunch of pamphlets, pro and con,
The doctrine of salva-ti-on,
The college laws I'm fi-eed from minding,
A Hebrew Psalter stripped from binding.
A Hebrew Bible too lies nigh it.
Unsold because no one would buy it.
My manuscript in prose and verse,
They take for better or for worse ;
Their minds enlighten with the best,
And pipes and candles with the rest.
Provided that from them they cull
My college exercises dull,
On threadbare theme, with mind unwilling.
Strewed out through fear of fine or shilling.
To teachers paid to avert an evil.
Like Indian worship to the devil.
Item. The government of college, —
Those liberal helluos of knowledge,
Who even in these degenerate days
Deserve the world's unceasing praise,
Who, friends of science and of men,
Stand forth Gomorrah's righteous ten, —
On them I naught but thanks bestow,
For like my cash, my credit 's low ;
So I can give nor clothes nor wines, . ,
But bid them welcome to my fines.
Item. Two penknives with white handles,
A bunch of quUls and pound of candles,
A lexicon compiled by Cole,
A pewter spoon and earthen bowl, .
A hammer and two homespun towels.
For which I yearn with tender bowels,
Since I no longer can control them,
I give to those sly lads who stole them.
MyseK on life's broad sea I throw.
Sail with its joy or stem its woe.
No other friend to take my part,
Than careless head and honest heart.
My purse is diained — my debts are paid —
My glass is run, my will is made.
To beauteous Cam I bid adieu.
And with the world begin anew."
The above, with other scraps of Mr. Bigelow's poetry, were handed
to the writer by a sister of his, and the poetical merit and sly humor
running through them must bo the apology for inserting them here.
Other of his productions may bo found in the Appendix.
140 HISTOllY OF WATICK.
Robert Petishal Farriss graduated in 1815, was at tho time of
his death Attorney General for Missouri, and partner in business
■with Hon. Thomas H. Benton. He died in 1830.
John Angier, graduated in 1821, was first teacher of an academy
in Natick. He has since been engaged in the same occupation in
Medford, Mass.
Calvin E. Stowe was born in Natick, April 26th, 1802, where his
surviving parent still resides, and where he spent most of his youth-
ful days. He graduated at Bowdoin College, Me., in the class of
1824, and in divinity at Andover Theological Seminary in that of
1828. In 1830 he was appointed Professor of Ancient Languages
in Dartmouth College. In 1833 he was chosen Professor of Sacred
Literature in Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. While connected
with Lane Seminary he visited Europe to purchase a library for the
institution, and on the eve of his departure was appointed by the
Legislature of Ohio to investigate and collect, during the progress
of his tour, information in relation to the various systems of public
instruction and education which had been adopted in the countries
of Europe, and to make a report upon them. The result of this
investigation was a report which has been considered one of the
,most valuable educational documents ever published in the country.
In his tour he visited England, Scotland, France, Prussia, the dijBfer-
ent States of Germany, had opportunities for seeing the celebrated
Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paris, Ber-
lin, Halle, Leipsic, and Heidelberg, and returned to this country
in 1838.
In 1850 he was chosen Divinity Professor in Bowdoin College,
and in 1852 Professor of Sacred Literature in Andover Theological
Seminary.
Professor Stowe has been twice married. His first wife was Eliza
Tyler, daughter of President Tyler, of East Windsor, Conn. ; his
last, Harriet Beecher, well known as the authoress of Uncle Tom's
Cabin.
In 1852 he again visited Europe in company with his wife on the
famous Uncle Tom tour, so much talked of at the time, and an
account of which may be found in Mrs. Stowe's " Sunny Memories."
The following is a list of Professor Stowe's publications :
1. "Translation of Jahn's Historv of the Hebrew Common-
wealth." 2. " Hebrew Poetry, Knowledge Important to the Study
'^h
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ASSOC PMOF. OF ,v.!iL', L,!:: IN TEEOL. ,->i/..', .i^:i)ov±:it
LATE COLLIITS PSOF. OF KSLWION W BOKDOm COLLEGE .
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HISTORY OF NATICK. 141
of the Bible." 3. " Report on Elementary Public Instruction in
Europe." 4. " Several Articles in Biblical Repository and Bib-
liotheca Sacra."
Charles Angier, class of 1827, has been engaged most of the
time since as a teacher.
Joseph Angier, 1839. Graduated also in divinity at Cambridge,
and has since been settled in the ministry in Milton.
Daniel Wight, Jan., 1839. Mr. Wight is another of the sons of
Natick who have made themselves known to a greater extent than
the mass of citizens. His exertions to make himself useful, in all
situations, while in college, as a teacher, and now as a clergyman,
have endeared him to a large circle of friends. He prepared for
college mostly at Phillips Academy, Andover, graduated at Cam-
bridge and at the Theological Seminary in Andover.
He taught an academy in Natick the summer of 1836, spring of
1838, and fall of 1839. He still has pupils under his instruction
in their preparatory course for college.
He was appointed, about 1840, teacher* in Phillips Academy, but
declined the appointment.
After he graduated from the Theological Seminary he received a
call to settle in Phippsburg, Me., and also at Scituate, Mass., which
last was accepted. He was ordained pastor of the First Church, Sep-
tember 28, 1842, and has since been the minister of that congrega-
tion. He is the author of several controversial pamphlets relating
to the history of the first church in Scituate — a Church Manual —
a Biography of Rev. Thomas Clapp, and the designer of the engrav-
ing representing the " Progress of ' Bunyan's Pilgrim,' from the
city of Destruction to the Celestial city." This beautiful allegory, as
is well knoAvn, has been translated into nearly all the languages of
Christendom, and been perused with delight and fervor by all nations.
Art has lent her attractions in nearly all the forms of illustration, from
the rough wood-cut^ to the exquisite steel engravinr/. But not until the
middle of this century has a comprehensive pictorial representation of
the work been attempted. To Mr. Wight belongs the novel idea of com-
bining the entire story, and transferring it to a single picture, pre-
senting at one view, the varied scenes through which Pilgrim passed
in his journey. For more extended notices of this work, we must
refer the reader to the Appendix.
Alexander W. Thayer, 1843, studied law at Cambridge, visited
14:2 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Germany in 1851-2, was employed as one of the editors of the New
York Tribune in 1853-4, and is now again in Europe.
John W. Bacon, 1843, studied law at Cambridge, and in the office
of Charles T. Russell, Boston ; is now an attorney at law, in
Natick.
Jonathan F. Moore graduated at Amherst College in 1840 ; has
been engaged since, for some time, as a teacher and editor. He
studied law in Hingham, Mass., and is now a member of the Suffolk
Bar.
Samuel S. Whitney, Joseph P. Leland, and Isaac Jennison,
each passed a portion of the college course, but the two latter were
prevented by death from finishing it ; the former studied medicine and
became eminent as a physician.
Amos Perry graduated in 1837, and has since been employed as
a teacher in Providence.
Joseph W. Wilson graduated at New Haven, in 1854. He is
now engaged as a teacher in that city.
There have been, and are, many individuals whose exemplary life
and private virtues render them worthy of notice in a history of the
town. But the memory of such not living is enshrined in a more se-
cure record. It is the legacy of their friends and acquaintance, and
to touch would be to soil it, while those still alive are daily writing
their own histories, and submitting them to the perusal of hundreds
whose eyes will never rest on these pages. The thoughts of many
will ever recur with pleasure, to the image that memory paints on the
mind, of the now absent forms of an Atkins, a Morse, a Walcott, and
a Leland. It has been the fortune of some citizens to occupy a more
conspicuous, though perhaps not a more useful, station than others.
No one can peruse the records of the town, for the thirty years
last past, without knowing that some careful hand has been busy for
many hours in arranging and neatly noting each act and appropria-
tion. No one will need be told that it is the hand of Hon. Chester
Adams, to whom they have so often given their willing suffrages for
every important office in town, and who still survives to cheer the
younger and more vigorous friends of order with his counsel and his
smile.
He was born in Bristol, Hartford County, Conn., in the year 1785 ;
removed to Dedham, Mass., in 1799, and resided in that town and
in Needham, until 1821. He was a minute-man during the war of
,Jfc
y/^^/O;
^.4
HISTORY OF NATICK. 143
1'812, and, being promoted from one military grade to another during
the continuance of the war, escaped being called into actual ser-
vice, the officer below being taken each time.
In 1820 he resigned his commission as Colonel of the 1st Regi-
ment, 2d Brigade, and 1st Division of the Massachusetts Militia, and
was honorably discharged. In 1821 he removed to Natick, where
he has since resided.
In 1824 he was chosen town clerk and treasurer, and resigned the
office in 1828. In 1832 he was chosen again to the same office, and
re-chosen each succeeding year until 1853, when he resigned on ac-
count of ill health. During the twenty-seven years he has held this
office he has not been absent from one meeting of the town.
The records in his handwriting cover over more pages than any
four preceding clerks, and the town may safely challenge the pro-
duction^of books from any town or city, more accurately, legibly, or
neatly kept.
He was representative from Natick to the Legislature in 1833,
'34, '35, '37, '38, a member of the Senate in 1842 and 1849, and
postmaster at South Natick for seven years preceding the adminis-
tration of- Van Buren, by whom he was removed. The sincerest re-
spect of all his fellow citizens, and the good wishes of all who have
ever known him, are his inheritance in his present retirement.
Among the individuals who have become extensively known, and
have made their mark upon the age, Henry Wilson will be classed by
the willing or the unwilling historian. Now holding a seat in the
Senate of the United States, which he has won by his own untiring
exertions, he may safely say to friend or foe, " not to know me ar-
gues yourself unknown." Few men in the country are better known
than General Wilson. His opinions are entirely democratic, and his
sympathies and interests altogether with " the people." This is,
undoubtedly, the great secret of his success. Not only this, but at
the beginning he belonged to that craft which of all others has fur-
nished most men to claim the notice of the historian's pen — he was a
shoemaker —
" The foremost still by day or night
On moated mound or heather,
Where'r the need of trampled right
Brought toiling men together.
Where the free burghers from the wall
Defied the mail-clad master —
Than theirs at freedom's clarion call
No ornftsraen rallied faster."
144 HISTORY OF NATICK.
One -who writes the records of General Wilson's successes •with an
impartial pen, while he holds up to admiration his scorn of all that
birth or hereditary distinction can give, and asserts the undoubted
fact, that in no other Government on earth could such distinctions
have been conferred, should guard others from throwing away their
lives in attempts to follow in footsteps in which any other man would
have been dashed in pieces.
What Byron calls '' the wild delight of knowing " must be incen-
tive enough for a man to trim the midnight lamp ; but let him guard
against efforts for political promotion, unless he is sure of an 1840
campaign to whirl him into distinction, and a series of measures op-
pressive to the people, at once to draw forth his indignation, discover
his ability, and keep him on the wing, till he finally shall alight on
that pinnacle of distinction to which his ambition led him to aspire.
The head-lands of Mr. Wilson's life are easily noted by any of his
fellow-townsmen. He was born in Farraington, State of New Hamp-
shire, February 16, 1812. At the age of ten years he went to live with
a farmer of his native town, who agreed if he should remain till he
was twenty-one, he should have four weeks' schooling each year, and
six sheep and a- yoke of oxen at the close of his term. The oxen,
sheep, and forty-nine weeks' schooling, were the pay for his eleven
years' services.
During this time, by the kindness of a sister of the late Hon. Levi
Woodbury, and Judge Whitehouse, of Farmington, he was furnished
with well selected works of history and biography, which he read
on Sundays and nights, by the aid of pine knots instead of a lamp.
In 1833 Wilson removed to Natick. From that time to 1836 he
worked so untiringly that his health began to fail. During this time
he was a member of the Village Debating Society, noticed in another
portion of this work, and his tremulous voice and hand, as he took
part in the debates, as well as the knowledge he showed of the his-
tory of the country, are now remembered by his fellow members.
In 1836 he visited Virginia, and witnessed from the gallery of the
House of Representatives the introduction of Mr. Pinckney's famous
Gag Resolutions, and the scene which followed, as John Quincy
Adams refused to vote on the question. During the winter of 1837
Wilson taught school in New Hampshire, and that of 1838 in Na-
tick — having attended, the three terms intervening. Concord, Wolf-
borough and Strafford academies. In the ever memorable Hard Cider
cn^^
HISTORY OF NATICK. 145
campaign of 1840, Mr. Wilson first became known as a political
man. His visit to the South had thoroughly imbued him with anti-
slavery principles and feelings.
In 1838 Wilson voted the Whig ticket. In 1839 he was nomi-
nated by that party for representative, but was defeated ; 1840
heralded far and wide the name of the " Natick Cobbler." During
that year he visited sixty towns of Massachusetts, and undoubtedly
contributed much to the Whig triumph which fullowed. This autumn
he was nominated representative, and elected. This year and the
following, he was active in the House, and took a leading part with
his political friends and brethren.
He was candidate for the Senate in 1842, but lost his election. In
1843, and again in 1841, he was chosen. In 1845 he was again a
member of the House from Natick. At this time Mr. Wilson began
seriously to suspect the sincerity of Whig resolutions on the subject
of slavery. Still cleaving to the Whig party, notwithstanding the
decided action of its leading men in favor of slavery, Mr. Wilson
made a speech, and introduced a resolution in the Legislature of
1845, which expressed the old Whig anti-slavery sentiment. Wilson
and Whittier were deputed to carry a petition to Washington, pro-
testing against the admission of Texas into the Union as a slave
State. Anti-slavery men of all parties joined in the movement which
resulted in this petition. On the death of John Q. Adams in 1848,
Mr. Wilson received several votes in the convention to nominate his
successor. Wilson was undoubtedly the author, in conjunction with
-Judge Allen, of the measures which resulted in the defeat of the
Whig party in Massachusetts in 1850. They were chosen delegates
of the Whig party to the National Convention, and on the nomination
of General Taylor to the presidency, denounced the convention and
took their leave. From this movement grew the " Free Soil" party.
For two years preceding 1851, Mr. Wilson was the editor and
proprietor of the Boston Republican. In 1849 he was chosen to the
House from Natick, and Avas candidate of the Free Soil party for
speaker. In 1849 he was chosen chairman of the Free Soil State
Committee, and held the office for four years. In 1850 and '51
he was chosen to the Senate, and elected president of that body.
In 1851 General Wilson was chosen president of the Free Demo-
cratic National Convention convened at Pittsburg, and also chair-
man of the National Committee. In 1852 he was nominated as a
10
146 HISTOHY OF NATICK.
candidate to Congress, and at the second trial came within ninety-
two votes of an election. He was a leading member of the Con-
stitutional Convention, and president of that body during the illness
of Mr. Banks.
In the State Convention holden at Fitchburg, the 15th September,
1853, he was nominated for governor.
During the last session of the legislature he was elected to the
Senate of the United States. While he was a member of the le^is-
O
lature his name is recorded on nearly every question taken, and
while in the Constitutional Convention, he was absent scarce an hour.
For evidence of the ability of General Wilson, as well as for speci-
mens of his style, both as a writer and debater, we must, for want of
space, refer the reader to his speeches in the Constitutional Conven-
tion, his letter to Dr. Bell, and to a short speech of his to be found
in another part of this volume.
The limits of this work forbid all attempts to trace the continuous
pedigree of the different families from their emigrant ancestors. In
the short notices we have given of individuals, we have endeavored
to state facts impartially and candidly. We have presented only
those names which we thought all would concur in thinking the
most prominent, and from situation and circumstances worthy of
being held?up to the rising generation as examples for imitation.
They are those who are the most distinguished, and have exerted
the greatest influence on the destinies of the town. The author has
been chary of encomiums on private individuals, lest their frequency
should prove them worthless. A glance, however, at the new streets*
laid out, at others widened and straightened, at land reclaimed
from primeval swamps and converted into building lots, and at the
new buildings of various descriptions in different parts of the village,
will discover to the reader the impossibility of fairly representing the
town without mentioning the name of Edward Walcott, a native
of Pepperell, Mass., but for twenty-seven years a resident of Natick.
By his activity in business and his sagacity in forestalling the future
wants of citizens, he has not only acquired a fortune for himself,
but given a competency to many others.
Spring street, from Central to its junction with North, was laid
out' and built by him. All that part of the village which lies between
the railroads, may be said to have been created by him from the
swamps and woods which twenty-five years ago covered it. Many
'^. -' f
HISTORY OF NATICK. - 147
dwelling houses, beside the largest block of stores and offices in town,
have been erected by his agency.
Of Mr. Walcott it may be said with the strictest truth, that he is
a straight-forward, fearless supporter of whatever he considers
true and right — one who, without ever practising any of the arts
of a demagogue, or compromising his self-respect by standing for-
ward as a political gladiator, has, by his consistent acts in private
life and as a business man, by the evidence he has given of a far-
seeing policy, of indomitable energy, and firm integrity, secured the
respect and confidence of the community.
In the minds of many readers it will not be regarded as an objec-
tion, that Mr, Walcott is a consistent professor of the Christian
relio-ion — being a member of the First Congregational Church in
the town ; and although no one suspects him of verging towards
bigotry or fanaticism, he has always taken a deep interest in all
matters which tend to elevate the religious or moral character of the
community. He is the father of the anti-slavery, as well as of the
manufacturing, interest in town. He has built and owned about
twenty dwelUng houses, and paid to workmen of various pursuits, for
labor performed, nearly a million of dollars. The first, and certain-
ly the most extensive shoe manufacturer in town, he has now retired
from active-business, but his capital is still furnishing to others the
means of prosecuting various branches of trade. He now pays the
larirest individual tax in town.
It would be pleasant and profitable, if it were possible, to record here
the names of Samuel Morse, John Atkins, Abel Perry, and Samuel
Fisk, with an account of the lives of each. No part of history is
read with greater interest than the biography of those with whom
Ave feel ties of affinity, or familiar acquaintance ; and the gleaning
from decavino; documents and fadinii; traditions, the materials for
such a work, is not an ungrateful task.
The people of Natick may well be proud of many of the fathers
of the town. Nowhere can there be found nobler specimens of pa-
triotism, and every manly virtue. They ever manifested a spirit that
was ready to hazard everything for their children's prosperity, and
those children would prove but ungrateful recipients of their favors,
if they were unwilling to gather up and preserve the records of
them. The early settlers of Natick were, some of them, cotempo-
rary with the youngest of the Pilgrim Fathers ; others of them were
148 HISTORY OF NATICK.
their sons, and after emigrants from England. They possessed char-
acters that had been formed where the institutions of religion and
moral culture had long been established, and whether it may be
traced to this fact or not, the people of the town have in past years
been a law-abiding, church-going people. With the exception of
what is now the vice of intemperance, they were a virtuous people.
No native of the town ever served a term in a penitentiary. No
crime of any magnitude ever disgraced one of its permanent inhab-
itants. It is grateful to a writer to record these things. It should
be the anxious desire of all now on the stage of action, to preserve
the fair fame of the town untarnished. Let the characters of the
individuals who have been noticed in the past pages be studied with
care. They are men from the industrial and professional classes of
the community, and as such may be presented as examples to imi-
tate. Industry, energy, integrity, perseverance, have given them
the position they hold in their several callings. They have fought
the battle of life, without aid or even sympathy in the darkest hour
of trial, and the great lesson they teach is, that to the resolute will
nothing is impossible ; that straight-forward principle, patient and un-
tiring purpose, are certain of success in the end.
^-1
■>^
CD
o
f-^
CHAPTER Y.
Employment of the People. Agkicultueal Statistics. Tkade and Man-
ufactuees.
Most of the people of Natick, previous to 1835, were industrious
and frugal farmers. The introduction of manufacturing pursuits at
that time, and the rapid increase of a population of a different pur-
suit in consequence, have altered the character of the town in this
respect, and given it that of a manufacturing place. Most of the
farms, however, are still in possession of their previous owners, or
their sons, and their value is greatly enhanced by the markets the vil-
lages afford for their produce.
There are very few farms which do not exhibit evidence of their
being the property of intelligent and industrious men. A very few
farms in the centre of the town, have, in the growth of the village,
been converted into building lots, but the owners have thus gathered
a more valuable harvest than they could have reaped in any other way.
The village now covers the whole of the farm formerly the prop-
erty of Rev. Martin Moore, the greater part of that of Dr. John An-
gler, the whole of Ruel Morse's, Abel Perry's, and a portion of that
of Capt. David Eacon's.
On the whole, Natick may be considered as a good farming town.
Although small in extent, much of the soil is of the best quality, and
affords yearly rich returns for the labor bestowed on it. Of the
cereal grains, corn, rye, barley and oats, are cultivated. Wheat yields
but little, although it is yearly grown to some extent. Potatoes and
other esculent roots flourish well, and afford important articles of
subsistence to the inhabitants. Scientific farming is forcing upon
all the conviction, not only that this is the most profitable way of
managing lands, but that the occupation itself is one of the noblest
in the whole range of industrial pursuits.
The statistics of agricultural products for the year ending June,
1855, have been taken, and are as follo\\s:
150
HISTORY OF NATICK.
Acres.
Bushels.
Value.
Potatoes,
136
12,375
$10,625.00
Corn,
271
8.491
8,491.00
Rye,
51
915
1,189.00
Oats,
56
1,34 i
1,008.00
Barley,
14^
268
268.00
Other crops,
2
31.00
ESCULENT VEGETABLES
Acres.
Bushels.
Value.
Onions,
7
s
433
$217.00
Carrots,
3i
2,043^
. 689.00
Turnips,
2
295
118.00
Other crops.
61
—
4,878.00
Bushels.
Value.
White Beans,
253
$521.00
Cranberries,
810
1620.00
r
PEUIT.
Considerable attention has been paid to the cultivation of fruit.
Many fine orchards exist in difierent parts of the town, which are
yearly laden with the Porter, the Golden Busset, the Rhode Island
Greening, and the Pippin.
The Golden Pippin, so well known in market, and which stands
by the side of the Porter in the judgment of connoisseurs, is a native
of this town. The original tree was, a short time since, standing
near the house of Capt. Willard Drury.
Bushels.
Value.
Apples sold.
—
$2,830.00
Pears sold.
—
428.00
Peaches, cherries, and other fruit,
Tons.
410.00
English hay cut.
1312
$25,580.00
Meadow hay cut.
375
3,715.00
mber.
Value.
256
$28,167.00
90
5,878.00
316
9,975.00
168
1,507.00
2
18.00
HISTORY OF NATICK. 151
Pounds. Value.
Butter made in town, 18,159 $4,539.00
Cheese, 165 62.00
Honey, 92 19.00
Gallons.
Gallons of milk sold, 50,380 $7,035.00
Value and number of horses, &c., in town the year ending June
15, 1855:
Horses,
Oxen and steers.
Cows and heifers.
Swine,
Sheep,
Such is the exhibition in figures of the results of farming for one
year to Natick. Manufactures undoubtedly, at this time, are the
greatest source of wealth to the town.
About the year 1830, several individuals engaged in making sale
shoes for the southern and western markets, since which time the
business has so increased, and so many improvements have been in-
troduced into it, that its history, from that period, may almost be
said to be a history of the town. One of the manufacturers has pre-
served specimens of the first shoes made in Natick. They are almost
as primitive in their construction, and as unlike the article now man-
ufactured, as were the sandals of the Jews. If there has been an
equal improvement in the classes at the South who wear them, the
efforts of philanthropists have not been in vain. The trade at that
time was principally a barter with Boston dealers. A few persons
manufactured as agents. All the shoes were transported to Boston
by teams, which were laden with leather in returning. All prepara-
tion of " stock," as it is called, was made without the use of
machinery. One person made the entire shoe, and when it was
returned to the manufacturer, it was ready for the market.
In this way, for several years, the business continued, more en-
gaged in it, improvements in the construction of shops were intro-
duced, benches and tools for workmen were constructed in better
152 HISTORY OF NATICK.
style and of better material. There came soon to be a division of
labor, accomplished workmen finishing the shoe, and the less expe
rienced making other parts of it.
The construction of the Boston and "Worcester Railroad in 1835,
gave a new impulse to the business. Manufacturers being able to
transport leather and shoes at less expense, increased their business,
employed more hands, built larger manufactories, introduced ma-
chinery to aid in cutting the leather, and endeavored to reduce the
whole business to a system. Their business at this time, instead of
being confined to Boston, extends to all the principal cities of the
country. New Orleans and Charleston merchants visit the place for
the purpose of purchase, and buy also by orders.
The purchase of leather, selling of shoes, and preparation of them
for market, are now the work of the manufacturer. The cutting, lining,
and packing of the upper leather belong to another class of hands ;
of the sole-leather, to another ; pegging is done either by machinery
or boys, lasting and trimming by journeymen, binding and stitching
by girls or machinery, while polishing the tops and the soles furnishes
employments for two other sets of hands.
Making the boxes in which the shoes are packed is another branch
of the business, which affords employment for many hands.
It is estimated by those best qualified to know, that, for the last
twenty years, the average number of shoes made in Natick, yearly,
cannot be less than six hundred thousand, while for several years
during the latter part of that period, one million of pairs was man-
ufactured.
But four or five individuals can be enumerated who have ever ■
failed in this business, while many are known who have made for-
tunes by it.
Edward Walcott was among the first who commenced the business
in the place. He commenced in 1828, in the west part of the town.
A few years after, he removed to the centre, employed yearly about
one hundred hands, and manufactured about one hundred and fifty
thousand pairs of shoes. He has manufactured not far from three
million pairs.
Henry Wilson, more distinguished in another sphere, in which he
has received our notice, commenced the manufacture of shoes in
1838, and closed in 18 i8.
HISTORY OF NATICK.
153
In 1838 he made 18,000 pairs, and employed 18 hands.
u
<(
ii
ii
ii
n
<c
u
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
184G
1847
1848
a
a
ii
ii
ii
a
ii
ii
ii
31,000
38,000
47,000
51,000
56,000
62,000
58,000
47,000
122,000
63,000
n
ii
u
ii
ii
ii
ii
ii
ii
ii
ii
ii
ii
ii
ii
a
ii
a
ii
4i
ii
a
a
a
ii
ii
ii
ii
a
it
29
34
51
48
53
59
52
72
109
68
ii
<(
n
n
ii
il
il
il
il
ii
He again commenced business in January, 1854, and closed in
April, 1855.
In 1854 he made 23,000 pairs, and employed 28 hands.
In 1855 he made 8,000 pairs.
All the shoes manufactured by him amounting to 664,000 pairs.
Isaac Felch commenced business in 1836, and the next five years
employed seventy-seven persons in making and preparing the shoes
to be made. During this time the average number of shoes made
by him each year was 31,200 pairs. The remainder of the time he
has been in business he has made, on an average, 50,000 pairs per
annum. In 1854 he made 60,000 pairs.
The firm of F. Hanchett & Company have been in business since
1843, and have given to the compiler of this volume the following
statement of their business.
First commenced business in 1843, and continued, under the firm
of E. & F. Henchett, until January, 1848, making from 30,000 to
40,000 pairs per annum, and giving employment to from 40 to 50
hands.
Number of hands employed in 1849 — males, 33 — females, 18.
Shoes made in 1849, 42,000 pairs.
They employed the same number of hands, and made about the
same number of shoes, each year, till 1853, when they employed 120
males and 54 females. In 1854, they made 36,000 pairs.
One of the most commodious and systematic shoe manufactories in
Natick, and one of the oldest, is that of John B. Walcott.
He first entered the business in 1835, and since then has made
1,099,763 pairs of shoes, .of all descriptions, fine and coarse, for for-
eign markets, and a better article for home consumption. We give
154 HISTORY QF NATICK.
here a statement of the pairs of shoes made by Mr. Walcott each
year since commencing business.
Year.
Pairs.
Tear.
Pairs.
1835
4,050
1845
40,350
1836
11,000
1846
64,000
1837
8,310
1847-
100,010
1838
9,290
1848
84,012
1839
10,350
1849
107,336
1840
8,200
1850
104,222
1841
18,700
1851
112,140
1842
21,830
1852
118,080
1843
25,113
1853 .
118,140
1844
36,710
1854
97,920
Other extensive establishments of the same kind are making shoes
of different varieties.
"What is called custom work, or shoes for home consumption, has,
■within a few years, been introduced, and many stores in the vicinity
are supplied with their stock from these manufactories.
We give below a statement of the amount of manufactured articles
of a different character, with their value, &c., for the year ending
1st June, 1855.
Ko. of No. per- Capital Value of ar-
Mannf. Bons einp. inrested. tides made.
Shoe box manufactories, 2 10 $5,500 |19,100
Harness manufactories, 2 3 600 2,100
Cap manufactories, 11 25 350
Carriage manufactories, 3 10 1,550 5,900
Pulp for paper, 1 12 16,500 70,425
Cutlery, 3 3 450 2,000
Baking, 1 4 1,100 9,110
Shoe filling, 2 3 50 1,500
Wholesale and cust. clothing 5 11 5,500 30,800
Value of tree nails, or ship pins, prepared for market, 4,136
Value of ship timber sold, 1,730
Value of shipplank sold, 260
Number of pairs of shoes made, 1,281,295
Number of pairs of boots made, 570
Number of males employed, 1,070
Females employed, 497
Value of shoes and boots, • $1,163,808
HISTORY OF NATICK. 155
COAL.
So extensive has been the consumption of wood in this neighbor-
hood, that the use of mineral coal for fuel is almost a necessity.
But, at first used from necessity, it has now become popular. Its
great superiority over wood in the facility of putting it away in a
small place, the readiness with which its fires can be shut down at
night and rekindled in the morning — in a cold morning a great ad-
vantage — the superior degree of safety of coal over wood, as regards
accidental fires resulting from their use, and, more than all, the dim-
inution in the value of coal and rising of that of wood, make it now
as necessary an article for family consumption as flour or meal.
On the first introduction of coal, some twenty years since, it sold
at thirty-five or forty cents per bushel. The early supplies were
brought from Boston by teams, and for years no larger quantities
were imported into town.
The consumption of coal since 1849 will be indicated by the fol-
lowing statement of yearly sales, by J. S. Woods, who, it is believed,
has supplied the town with by far the greater part it has consumed.
From October 1, 1849 to May 1, 1850 he sold 281 tons.
" May 1, 1850 " " " 1851 " " 413 "
" " " 1851 " " " 1852 " " 719
" " " 1852 " " " 1853 " « 938
" " " 1853 « " " 1854 " '« 1400 "
" " " 1854 " " " 1855 " '• 1412 "
5163 "
The principal objection to the use of coal is the presence of sulphur
and bitumen to such excess as to render its use unpleasant and un-
healthy in sleeping apartments, and to defile clothing, furniture and
houses. The Peach Orchard and Canal coal burn free from sulphur,
and consume every portion to ashes.
MILLS, ETC
The first mill built in Natick has already received our notice. It
was built on the brook which now bears the name of Sawin, and was
of the most simple construction.
156 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Thomas Sa^vin built both a saw-mill and a grist-mill. The latter
consisted of a horizontal -wheel and a perpendicular shaft, on which
the upper stone rested, and with which it was turned. The Indians
were much gratified with these, and Sawin found it not difficult to
obtain possession of a large tract of land, which is still in possession
of the Sawins, as we have seen in our notice of that family. On
this site are now two saw-mills, a corn and bolting-mill.
A few years after the erection of this mill, one Hastings built a
dam across Cbarles river, nearly opposite the residence of Hezekiah
Broad, and erected a corn-mill, a saw-mill, and a fulling-mill. This
occasioned a law-suit, brought by the owners of Medfield meadows,
which eventuated in the removal of the mills to the site where Cur
tis's mill was lately burned.
FIRM OF CLARK & WINCH, MERCHANTS.
This firm have been the longest in business of any in town.
Mr. Clark, the senior partner, opened his store in 1836, with a cap-
ital of $5000, in the building erected in 1799 for a meeting-house.
Since 18S9 he has had associated with him in business, Leonard
"Winch, under the style of Clark & Winch. In 1851 he erected the
elegant building now occupied by the firm, at the corners of Central
and Main streets. Their business is entirely retail, and extends to
all the adjoining towns. Perhaps no establishment of the kind in
Middlesex county, out of the cities, does so extensive a business as
this, at the present time.
While we are thus stating the amount of the industrial products of
Natick, in figures which often reach to thousands, let us pause and
review the past, with a view to discover the prospect of the future.
The laws of gravitation and of centralization are alike laws of na-
ture, and the results of the one are as certain as those of the other.
The consequences of the revolution of the earth on Natick, in giving
her day and night, spring and autumn, are not more certain than
are those of the revolution of those artificial powers which we have
been reviewing, in giving her wealth, a dense population, and, prop-
erly regulated and directed to high and ennobling objects, happiness
and social position among her sister towns.
She has in her hands all the achievements of modern times, ma-
chinery, steam engines, railroads, and more than all, as indispensable
CLARK &WirJCHRS BUiroiN&. COMER MAIN tc CENTRM. ST'S, NATICK.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 1D7
to the success of any place, she has a vast amount of sinew, intelli-
gence and enterprise, in the persons of two thousand young men,
which is daily forcing itself into the field, and demanding that it be
employed in some way that shall increase the common stock of pros-
perity and consequent happiness.
One hundred years since, and where was Natick ? Her inhabi-
tants, instead of studying the arts of peace, the improvements in agri-
cultural and mechanical implements, were bound by a civil bondage
from which they were panting to free themselves, and by a social
thraldom to which we, who are sometimes called their degenerate
descendants, would not submit for a moment. The most powerful
condemnations of her clergymen, instead of censuring the vices of the
people, were directed against matters of household economy, involv-
ing no questions of morality or virtue, and which one would think
might be safely left to the good taste of those who were most con-
cerned. Six hundred people, scattered over the whole town, com-
posed the place, with no subjects of common interest, except their
privations and oppression, with no future before them but that which
lay beyond a fearful contest, of uncertain result, with the most pow-
erful nation of Christendom. The privations and sufferings which
constitute the history of this period, are familiar in the families of
their descendants, and were endured in common with the people
throughout the State. We have in past pages followed the town
through the bloody strife for independence, witnessed its devotion to
the cause of liberty, seen its sons fall at Lexington and Bunker Hill,
the decaying embers of the red man's fires buried by the plough, and
those haughty lords of the soil fleeing before the face of those they
could neither subdue nor obey. We have seen its inhabitants rally in
support of the institutions of church and state, unanimous in favor of
securing the means of education to all. Let us now ask, Where was
Natick fifty years since ?
With a population of 700, no railroad, and scarce a common
road which was worthy the name. The same slow movement which
characterized former periods attended this. Men labored and con-
sumed the results of their toil. The laws of nature moved on with
the same unvarying course. The sun rose and set, and divided
the days from the nights not more effectually than men were divided
from each other.
The hostility between the north and south parts of the town was at
158 HISTORY OF NATICK.
Us height, each stood aloof from the other, and needed only the size
and wealth of nations to engage in battles, and ravage each other's
lands. A little more life was exhibited the first twentj-five years of
the present century. Comforts began to increase. The meeting-
house must have stoves, the school-house, desks; the roads must be
gravelled, and in connecting two points, three or four miles apart,
m.ust not zigzag more than double that distance. The lines of the
town must be perambulated, and their position determined. Stand-
ard works of history and biography must be within reach of all.
_ Another decade — 1835. Where do we see it then ? Energy,
action, new life in every direction. The midnight lamp shines from
the window of the ambitious mechanic and scholar. Little white
domiciles, with green blinds, nestle among the trees by the sides of
all the roads, which now first begin to be called streets. The earli-
est beams of morning glitter on the pinnacles of two modern-built
meeting-houses. The steam engine daily and nightly startles the cit-
izens by its unearthly yell, and the mill, the trip-hammer and the forge,
mingle their more pleasant, but not less useful, sounds, Avith the gen-
eral hum of industry.
The stage-coach and the ponderous ox-wagon have passed away.
The light chaise, with the spirited horse, begins to be seen rolling
along over the newly laid out turnpike. At the corners of the street,
where the cabin or shop stood, the store or manufactory may be seen.
Let us descend one period more, and put to ourselves the pertinent
question. Where are we now ?
With a population of 4000, granting yearly nearly as many dol-
lars for tli'e support of schools, with elegant residences, and capa-
cious manufactories at the corners of all the streets. School-houses
and meetinsr-houses more than sufficient to accommodate all the in-
habitants, engines to protect the property of the citizens from fire,
libraries and social institutions for mutual improvement, employment
for all classes of citizens, new streets dissecting our territory in all
directions. Instead of struggling feebly to have granted to us the
immunities and privileges of our neighboring towns, we are adding,
each decade, to our population, as many inhabitants as their entire
towns contain.
A voice from among us is heard with respect in the halls of our
national legislature, and at home, every question of poUtical moment
is passed upon by intelligent judgments ; every new publication ap-
HISTORY OF NATIOK. 159
proved of or condemned by those who, in their turn, furnish articles
for the columns of reviews and the criticism of reviewers.
With the knowledge of the resources which Natick has in store,
and the astonishing results which have been produced in her condition
since the commencement of the last twentj-five years of her history,
by the railroad, and the proper direction of her enterprise and en-
ergy, let us draw a picture of her fifty years from this date. We
are startled when we think of it, but would not shrink from knowing
it as it is. Although the result, in itself, is sure, and perfectly seen
by Him who " knoweth all things," yet the utmost stretch of human
penetration is baffled in attempts to discover it with certainty.
I wish to be indulged while, in a few brief sentences, I speculate
on the future of Natick. Leaving the rest of the State, the country,
and the world, to those who are at liberty to take a wider rano-e I
shall be satisfied if, by the aid of analogy and comparison, I can
divine, with any degree of certainty, what the future has in store
for us.
Let us recur to the law of centralization with which we started in
our speculations, and not be met with a smile when we ask the reader
to study the histories of the cities which are now in existence, New
York, Lowell, Cambridge, Cincinnati and Boston.
Circles rise to their climax, and the same law which has doubled
our population every decade, will give to us the present population
of either of the cities named above. New York,' undoubtedly, was
built by her commerce, and no other city like her will ever appear
on the American continent. Boston is the New York of New En^^-
land, with more established institutions, more Americanism in her
constitution. Cincinnati claims to be the centre of the United
States ; not the geographical centre, but the centre of influence and
force, about which, when all disturbing forces shall be removed, other
cities shall revolve, and to which they shall be tributary. But
although we may not in these, or in the cities of the old world, find
the class to which Natick may belong, yet it exists throughout
New England at the present day, and in the history of the old world.
One hundred and twenty cities once stood in Egypt, on a territory
not larger than that of Massachusetts, and long before Massachusetts
shall have attained the age of Egypt, will Newton, Natick, Lynn,
Milford, and a host of other towns, have attained the population of her
Thebes, her Alexandria, and Cairo.
160 HISTORY OF NATICK.
I have entered into a calculation to ascertain, on the basis of the
ratio of the increase of population in town for the past five years,
what will be the number of inhabitants at the close of every five
years, up to 1905. To gratify the curiosity of the reader we give it : —
From 1855 to 1860 the inc. will be 1904 Am't in 1860, 6004
1860 "
1865
" 2788
u
" 1865,
8792
1865 "
1870
" 4083
u
" 1870,
12875
1870 "
1875
" 5978
a
" 1875,
18853
1875 "
1880
" 8682
a
" 1880,
27533
1880 "
1885
" 12,679
li
" 1885,
40212
1885 "
1890
" 18,533
a
« 1890,
58745
1890 "
1895
" 27,074
a
" 1895,
85819
1895 "
1900
" 39,282
a
" 1900,
125201
1900 "
1905
" 57,454
a
" 1905,
182655
Is it then imagination and conjecture, or plain statement of fact,
when we say that fifty years from now, the humble Natick of the
" praying Indians " will have arisen to the dignity of a city ? that
persons are now living who will be members of her Board of Alder-
men, and Common Council ? that many of her present citizens may
sit as jurors in her Municipal Court, and walk on paved sidewalks
for miles in her streets ?
We can easily see it, as it will then appear. The vacant spaces
between South Natick and Natick, between Felchville and the vil-
lage, filled by houses and shops; Nebraska and "Little South"
forming suburbs to the town.
But we will leave the reader to fill up the picture at his leisure,
and turn us to notice a topic which was omitted accidentally in the
account of the taxation of Natick, which is its proper place. It
is the currency of the United States, and its depreciation. In 1780
the continental money had driven nearly all the gold from circula-
tion, and these notes depreciated so fast, prices rising in consequence,
that the whole monetary affairs of the country were disarranged,
and in speaking of any sums of the town appropriated at this period,
it is always necessary to discriminate between the money employed,
whether coin or bills.* A writer on this subject says, " that in some
* The continental bills -n-ere of the size of half an ordinary bank-bill of the
present day, being nearly square, and of various denominations ; commonly from
HISTORY OF NATICK. 161
parts of the country a month's pay for a soldier would not buy a
bushel of wheat for a family, and the pay of a Colonel would scarcely
buy oats for his horse."
Through not properly understanding this, many, in consulting the
records, and noticing the appropriations and taxation, and seeing the
enormous grants of this period, have been led into error.
one to thirty dollars, several values being used that are now discarded, as six,
eight, &c. They are mostly impressed with some appropriate motto in Latin, as
" The oppressed rise," " By perseverance we conquer," " In thee. Lord, have I
trusted." After the return to a better currency it was not unusual to see a hand-
ful of these bUls given to children to play with.
11
CHAPTER XYI.
Social History. Benevolent Society. Lyceums. Libraries. Temperance
Societies. Anti-Slavery. Masonic Lodge. Lodge of Odd Fellows. Sons
OF Temperance. Badger's Sermon on Intemperance. Conclusion.
Since 1830 various associations have been formed in town, some
for mutual improvement in knowledge, virtue, and power to use
knowledge to the best advantage, as lyceums and benevolent so-
cieties ; others connected with the moral improvements of the age,
temperance, anti-slavery, etc.
The Natick Benevolent Society has the honor of being the oldest
society of the kind in town, having been formed in 1832. Its object
is " mutual assistance in social and intellectual culture, and to afford
aid in the support of feeble churches at the West." Since 1840,
a paper, styled the " Evening Boquet," has been conducted by the
society, through the agency of a board of editors, chosen each an-
nual meeting. There are now 126 names upon the list of members.
Of the 226 persons who have been connected with the society, fif-
teen have died, and several have removed from town. Since its or-
ganization twelve persons have been made life-members of the Mas-
sachusetts Home Missionary Society, five boxes of clothing have
been sent to the West, donations have been made to several indi-
viduals, and a room in the " Sailor's Home " in Boston, has been
furnished.
Three fairs have been holden, from which have been realized six
hundred dollars. The whole amount of money collected by the so-
ciety since its formation is about $1,600.
Of the eight original members, two only retain their connection
with the society, four have died, and two removed from town.
When this society was organized, there was but one church, one
minister, and ten dwelling houses within half a mile of the meeting
house. No town house, no school house, no post office, no hotel, no
lawyer, and no physician.
The Natick Charitable Society was formed May 25th, 1835. It
HISTORY OF NATICK. 163
was connected -with the Sabbath School, and included many of the
teachers and scholars. It met for nine years, monthly, at the same
house. We find the names of John Travis, Daniel Wight, Jr., John
Bacon, 3d, Edward Walcott, A. W. Thayer, Samuel Hunt, among
the male members ; among the female, Susan Thayer, Lucy A.
Bacon, Mary B. Kimball.
The society adopted a heathen youth, and named him Erasmus
D. Moore, from the minister then settled over the parish. In 1845
the society discontinued its meetings.
LYCEUMS.
In 1835 the first Lyceum was formed in Natick, under the title
of the Natick Debating Society. Its thirteen original members were
Austin Bacon, G. H. G. Buttrick, George Herring, John E. Moore,
A. W. Thayer, Samuel S. Whitney, Henry Wilson, John A. Whit-
ney, Jonathan Walcott, Willard A. Wight, Calvin Leland, Edmn C.
Morse. The object of the society was free and liberal discussion,
either written or extemporaneous, of the current questions of the
day, either political or scientific.
This society continued its meetings till 1840, and was the parent
of many similar associations in town. The Natick Lyceum has fur-
nished to the citizens, each season, a course of lectures which are
generally well attended.
LIBRARIES, ETC.
But three public libraries, with the exception of those connected
with the various Sabbath schools of the town, have ever been estab-
lished in Natick.
The first was a public circulating library, established in 1808,
which contained about a hundred volumes. The proprietors for a
long period took much interest in the library, and the books which
are still preserved, exhibit evidence of being much read. The names
of the proprietors are the same which appear on the records of that
period most frequently.
A library of standard works on religious subjects was established
in 1817, by the assistance of a donation from the late George Homer,
Esq., of Boston, and is still in existence, though but very little
read.
164 HISTORY OF NATICK.
The Citizens' Library, established in 1846, contains about five hun-
dred volumes of historical, biographical and scientific works, adapted
to the wants of the general reader, and has been sustained thus far
■with the most cordial approval of the citizens. The annual meeting
is on the second Wednesday of February. The directors meet on
the Monday preceding the annual meeting of the proprietors, and
on the second Wednesdays of the months of May, August, and No-
vember.
Several affiliated societies have been instituted in town. The
Meridian Lodge of Free Masons, the Cocbituate Division of the
Sons of Temperance, and the Takawampait Lodge of Odd Fellows.
Numerous other associations, benevolent, religious, etc., connected
with particular denominations or parishes, and more or less local and
limited in their character, exist, which we have not alluded to,
because they are not sufficiently extended in their influence to give
character to the place.
Masonry was introduced into this country, according to Masonic
chronology, July 30th, 5733.* A lodge was then formed in
Boston, by virtue of a commission from the Grand Master in Eng-
land.
The Massachusetts Grand Lodge was established in Boston, De-
cember 27, 6769, and descended by Masonic transmission from the
Grand Master of Scotland. On the 19th of June, 5792, a Grand
Masonic Union was formed by these two Grand Lodges, and all dis-
tinctions between ancient and modern Masons were abolished. The
Lodges of Massachusetts were divided into twelve districts, each
having a District Deputy Grand Master. The Lodge now at Natick
was first organized at Watertown, thence removed to Newton, thence
to Natick. It is designated the Meridian Lodge, and contains about
fifty members.
The Takawampait Lodge of Odd Fellows was instituted at Natick,
February 18th, 1845, for the object, as expressed in their Constitu-
tion, of affording assistance to each other in the hour of sickness,
and of cultivating the feelings of friendship, love, and truth among
the members. " They are taught to consider themselves as a band
of brothers, and hence, to whatever part of the globe an Odd Fellow
may travel, should difficulty overtake him, he is sure of assistance
from any other member of the Order he may chance to meet.
* This reduced to common time would be A. D. 1733.
>j
HISTORY OF NATICK. 165
A twin brother of the two societies last named, is the Cochltuate
Division of the Sons of Temperance. It was established December
11, 1848, for the purpose of shielding each other from the evils of
intemperance, of affording assistance in case of sickness, and
elevating the character of its members, as men. One of the first
rules of the order is, that no member shall use as a beverage any
spirituous or malt liquors, wine or cider.
The notice of this association is a proper introduction to the history
of the temperance reform itself in town, without which no history
of the place would be complete.
Natick claims in this great moral reform of the age, ever to have
been found first among the foremost. Unyielding friends of the
cause, now surrounded by hundreds of supporters, still remain in the
field, after having battled with and defeated assailants of all descrip-
tions. They have regarded it as a contest involving the lives of
millions, as a stern struggle to seize upon and discover the best
method of promoting the highest interests of the race ; and when in
the commencement they were told they were meddling with that in
which they had no concern, they retorted that the well-being
of their children, the happiness and respectability of their brothers
and friends, ivere matters of their own, in which they had a vital in-
terest. When they had made another step and were met with the
plea of moral suasion and danger of reaction, they have given
another turn to the screw, and retorted, that moral suasion was for
those who needed to be convinced, and that reaction was always
weaker than the action. They have planted themselves on the truth,
that the traffic was productive of criminality and sin, and have needed
no farther incentives to apply to it the usual remedies for such evils.
When they have been told, farther along, that individual rights and
personal privileges were endangered, they replied that no man had a
right to injure himself or others, and that personal privileges were
constantly being infringed in the progress of truth and right.
They have at different times grasped the hand of the Washingto-
nian, then lamented his downfall, greeted the " Fifteen Gallon Law,"
mourned at its repeal, and again been cheered by the enactment of
the Maine Law.
We have had placed in our hands a curious document, relating to
the temperance reformation in this place, prior to the commencement
of the present century, — " Two sermons of llev. Mr. Badger's, on
166 HISTORY OF NATICK.
the subject of Intemperance." It will be recollected that Mr. Bad-,
ger left preaching in 1799, so that these sermons must have been
delivered before 1800, We give the substance of them.
" Ephesians 5 : 18. 'And be not drunk with wine, wherein is
excess.' The Ephesians, in common with other Gentiles before their
conversion to the faith of the Gospel, were addicted to a variety of
enormous sins. Among these intemperance was not the least.
Though they had renounced the errors of their heathen state, they
were still exposed to many temptations, and liable, when off their
guard, to fall into those sins, in Avhich, before they embraced Christi-
anity, they had freely indulged. The apostle, therefore, in this
chapter, and in other parts of this epistle, more than hints at several
of their old enormities, enters repeated cautions against them, and
exhorts to the practice of those duties which their new profession laid
them under peculiar obligation to perform.
In the text he particularly wai'ns them against drunkenness as a
vice that is directly contrary to that sobriety which the grace of
God, manifested in the Gospel, is designed to teach us.
Be not drunk with wine, that is, with any intoxicating liquor,
^wherein is excess.^ In order to prevent their falling into this
sin, and others which were likely to flow from it, as effects, in the
last clause of the verse of which the text is part, the apostle exhorts
to ' be filled zvith the Sjjirit.^ Instead of unmanning and debasing
yourselves by the excessive gratification of those appetites which
belong to mere animal nature, and particularly by being over-charged
with wine or any other intoxicating liquor, let it be your prayer and
solicitous concern to be filled with the good spirit of God, to be
under the influence of that spirit which the Gospel breathes, and to
abound in those fruits which are produced by the assistance of the
Divine Spirit. For in these there is no danger of excess. The
influence of this Spirit will enable you to restrain and regulate your
animal propensities and to keep them in proper subjection to the
higher power of reason, and to the precepts of God's word.
It is proposed to make a few observations, which may show
what is implied in the text, then briefly to explain the nature and
represent the guilt of the sin of drunkenness, point out some of the
sad and pernicious effects of this great and growing evil, and
improve the whole by such particular addresses as the subject may
fairly direct.
HISTORY OF NATICK. 167
With regard to the first, the text does not require a total absti-
nence from wine or any other refreshing hquor, it merely guards
against an immoderate use of them, against drinking them to excess ;
that is, using them to such a degree as to obtsruct and prevent the
regular, full, and free exercise of reason and understanding, or
making so free with spirituous liquors as to injure health, impair
strength, and in any measure indispose, and unfit us for the stated,
diligent, and conscientious discharge of the duties of life and reli-
gion, The person so using them is guilty of the sin of intemperance,
and justly chargeable with all the consequences it produces.
Though there may be some who are not guilty of such excess as
totally to drown their reason, stupefy their senses, and wholly unfit
themselves for the labors and duties of life, yet if they make it their
daily or frequent practice to drink to such a degree as to disorder
their rational faculties, to stupefy their consciences, and in any man-
ner to disincline or unfit them for religious duties, and for the civil
and laborious employments of life, whether it be perceived by others
or not, they are verily guilty in the sight of God.
We may add that as causes are best known by their effects, so the
nature and aggravated guilt of the sin of drunkenness will appear
in a more glaring point of light by taking a view of some of the sad
and pernicious fruits which it generally produces. In the first place,
it is of pernicious consequences to men's worldly interest. In how
many instances has this observation been realized ! How common
a thing has it been for persons addicted to this vice, who have begun
the world with a considerable interest in possession, or at least with
capacity, and with the means and opportunity of acquiring it, to be
reduced to want and distressing poverty ! Have we not known
some who have been brought to nakedness and hunger, to the most
abject wretchedness, and to the want of a place in which to put their
heads, by means of hard drinking ? or have been brought under
confinement by the hands of civil authority for not satisfying the
righteous demands of their creditors, by spending their earnings for
strong drinks, which should have been applied to the payments of
their just debts ? Or, if they have escaped the hands of justice, it
has been by skulking and hiding themselves ; or they have spent
the time which should have been employed in some profitable labor,
in wandering about from place to place, seeking to gratify their
insatiable appetite by the liberality, or rather indiscreet generosity
168 HISTORY OF NATICK.
of others, after tliey had lost their credit, and put it out of their
power to procure the means of intemperance themselves, by having
run through their patrimony, or the gains they had made before the
bewitching love of liquor had taken such entire possession of them,
through the want of timely resistance ; and by this means they have
brought not only themselves, but, which is very sad and affecting, by
not providing for those of their own household, have reduced their
innocent famiUes, their wives and children, to shame, to want, and
beggary. How much has it cost some for strong drink in the course
of a year ? More perhaps than their family expenses for the neces-
saries of life, especially if we take into account its other ill conse-
quences ; for as it is and must be very expensive, so it proves the
occasion of misspending and consuming much precious time. Instead
of being at home and employed in the proper business of their calling
to procure necessaries and conveniences for themselves and their
families, they are abroad at taverns and other places of resort, where
a plenty of liquor is expected, and drinking away their time and
senses together. ^
Again, those who drink to excess not only waste their worldly
substance, impoverish themselves and families, and misspend precious
time, but they indispose and unfit themselves for the proper business
and duties of their secular calling. How many days have been lost,
and worse than lost by hard drinking over night ! What habits of
sloth and idleness are contracted ! These make the drunkard more
and more averse to labor, and to the proper employments of life.
Besides, how liable is a man in a fit of drunkenness, or when he
is only in a considerable degree raised by the fumes of strong drink,
to be imposed on and defrauded by the crafty and designing, and by
every one who is inclined to take advantage of him ! When he is
thus intoxicated or elevated with drink, his reason is so asleep or
benumbed, impaired or beclouded, that he knows not or does not
consider what he does ; and how often has the poor intoxicated
creature been enticed to make bad and destructive bargains, and to
enter into such engagements as are injurious to his worldly interests,
and sometimes to subscribe instruments to the detriment, if not total
ruin, of himself and family as to this world !
By these means does the drunkard come to poverty and want.
But this is not the only sad consequence of the excessive use of
spirituous liquors. It also deprives them of that reputation or good
HISTORY OF NATICK. 169
name which the -wise man tells us is rather to he chosen than fjreat
riches. As men in their drunken fits act beneath the dignity of
their nature, as reasonable creatures, and are unfit for the society
and conversation of the wise and sober, they are accordingly shunned
and avoided. In their cups they expose themselves to the ridicule
of some, to the pity of others, and to the just abhorrence of all, by
the overflowings of their foolish and silly, their indecent and filthy,
their profane and wicked, if not beastly and diabolical, communica-
tions. What foolish questions will they ask ! What impertinent
answers will they make ! How incoherent and inconsistent in their
talk ! How unguarded and unbecoming their expressions ! Discre-
tion, honor, and modesty, are frequently laid aside, secrets divulged,
their friends exposed, and all who stand in any relation to them
ashamed and grieved, oflfended and hurt.
How disagreeable, and even shocking, does the drunkard appear
in the eyes of the wise and sober, the virtuous and good ! To see
a creature in human shape deprived of the use of that reason which
is the distinguishing glory of man, reeling and staggering along the
road, or wandering out of his way, his heart full of vanity and folly,
his mouth of cursing and bitterness, and uttering unseemly and
perverse things, his passions let loose, his senses stupefied, and the
whole man degraded below the beasts which have no understanding,
— this is a spectacle which, however it may excite the laughter and
mirth of some, is indeed one of the most melancholy and mortifying
which a wise and thoughtful person can behold, and is as disgraceful
to the man himself as it is offensive to others, and displeasing to the
God who made him.
Again, drunkenness seldem if ever stands alone. As was hinted
before, it is a leading vice. One of its first effects is impurity and
uncleanness. Unchaste desires, immodest language, and wantonness
of behavior are its usual effects. The passions, which were before
sufficiently ungovernable and headstrong, receive additional motion
and strength. The sensual appetites are kindled into an unholy
flame.
Again, intoxicating liquor, when taken to excess, prepares the way
for contention and every evil work. It frequently leads to outrages
and abusive language, Avhich kindle the fire of contention. Conten-
tion, when begun, increases by the cause Avhich first excited it.
Anger produces anger ; from hard words and provoking speeches
170 HISTORY OF NATICK.
they press on to blows and fightings ; the effects of these have in
many instances been bloodshed and murder.
Thus drunkenness by a natural and direct tendency leads to
uncleanness, to acts of impiety and profaneness, to strife and conten-
tion, to bloodshed and slaughter, and every other sin to which man-
kind are prone. For what sin is there which a man may not commit
when he is deprived of his reason? Our Saviour exhorts to " take
heed to ourselves lest at any time our heart be overcharged with
surfeiting and drunkenness." But a man in drink puts it out of his
power to exercise a proper caution ; he can neither watch nor pray
lest he enter into temptation, he is unfit to guard against it. The
caution cannot and will not be of any advantage to him for that
time, through his neglect to give heed to it in season, before the
temptation had its effect.
Again, the sin of drunkenness wounds the conscience, hardens
the heart, and deprives a man of that peace and tranquillity of mind
which a wise and sober person would not part with for the world.
What bitter reflections must sometime be the effects of drinking to
excess ! When the fumes of strong drink are dissipated, when the
storm of passion is abated, when a man comes to himself, when his
reason reassumes its ofiice in the soul, when his conscience writes
bitter things against him, then it severely reproves him, then ' it
bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.' Or if the drunkard
is so far advanced in this unmanly, disgraceful and pernicious evil,
and so habituated to it as to be without these bitter reflections, when
the intoxicating draught has spent its force, and what remains of
reason returns to its feeble empire in the soul, his case is still worse
and more desperate, and he is more the object of our pity. It is a
sad symptom indeed, and a token that his conscience is seared and
past the sense of feeling, when it ceases to warn him of his danger,
and lets him alone till it awakens and rouses him up in that place of
torment, where the worm of conscience will never die, and the fire of
divine wrath will never be quenched.
Again, by the excessive use of strong drinks men unfit themselves
for useful members of society. As they cannot serve God accept-
ably so neither are they capable of serving their generation, as it is
the will of God every man should according to his opportunities and
abilities. How many persons of good natural abilities and acquired
endowments render themselves utterly incapable of being serviceable
HISTORY OF NATICK. iJl
to the community of -which they are members, of sustaining various
offices and filling important departments in civil life, only by giving
indulgence to a more than brutish appetite for strong drink ! For
if they cannot govern themselves, if they cannot command and
restrain their appetites, and regulate and manage their own affairs,
surely they are unfit to direct, and incapable of leading and con-
ducting the affairs of others ; so that the sot at best is but a useless,
insignificant cipher in human society, a mere blank, and of all men
the most unqualified and unfit to serve his generation.
Again, drunkenness unfits men for Christian fellowship and com-
munion. It incapacitates them for the enjoyment of the special
privileges and ordinances of the Gospel.
They cannot, as the apostle tells the Corinthians, drink ike cup of
the Lord, and the cup of devils ; that is, they cannot be worthy com-
municants at the Lord^s table, while at the same time they partake
of that intoxicating cup which renders them fit only for the society
of the devil, and to do his service and drudgery : for what fellow-
ship hath Christ, or the members of his body, with drunkards ? How
dare such persons to drink of the consecrated wine, and be filled
with that, or any other liquor wherein is excess?
We next observe, that drunkenness is injurious and destructive to
the health and life of man. Spirituous liquors, especially when used
to excess, are allowed by some of the most skilful physicians, and by
the best writers, to be of pernicious consequences to our bodily con-
stitutions ; and they frequently lay a foundation for mental distem-
pers, and untimely death. ' Who hath woe ? ' says the wise man.
' Who hath sorrow ? Who hath contentions ? Who hath wounds
without cause ? Who hath redness of eyes ? ' The answer to these
short queries is, ' They who tarry long at the wine, they who go to
seek mixed wine. ' ' Woe unto them that rise up early in the morn
ing, that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night until
wine inflame them. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink
■wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.'
Those who make drinking to excess their daily or frequent practice,
at once wasting their precious time, and abusing God's creatures, at
the same time impair the health of their bodies, as well as endanger
the salvation of their immortal souls. And though there may be
some who do not drink such quantities as to bring on an}'' great de-
gree of intoxication, yet they may heat and inflame themselves to
172 HISTORY OF NATICK.
such a degree, as to bring on surfeits, disorders, and death. To how
many hurtful and fatal accidents is the drunkard exposed in his cups !
Sometimes hj falling from his beast, that is more rational and sober
than himself, as he is returning from taverns or other drinking
places ; at other times stumbling over any obstacle that lies in his
way, and thereby breaking his limbs, or bruising his flesh \Yhen he
escapes with his hfe.
In the last place drunkenness shuts men out of the Kingdom of
Heaven. As it unfits them for the society of their fellow creatures
and fellow Christians here, so much more does it disqualify them for
the gracious and immediate presence and intercourse of their Maker
and Saviour, for the company of holy angels, and the society of 'just
men made perfect,' in that holy -city, into which nothing entereth
which ' defileth or worketh abomination.' Drunkards, among other
high-handed offenders, are cautioned against deceiving themselves,
and are expressly told, in the word of God, that ' they shall not in-
herit the kingdom of God ; that the wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience,' and upon drunkards among the rest, who
in the text and other passages of scripture, are plainly warned against
excessive drinking, and they who indulge themselves in this and other
works of the flesh. As they cannot please God, so are they the objects
of his just abhorrence ; and if they remain impenitent and unre-
formed, he will consign them to the regions of darkness, despair and
endless torment, where they will repent indeed, but not with repen-
tance unto life, because it will be fruitless, unavailing and ever-
lasting.
1. To young inoiM. Dear young friends, you have had set
before you the defiling and contagious nature, and the sad and de-
plorable effects of the sin of drunkenness. Let me entreat you to
remember, that the way of vice is down hill ; if you once give your-
self up to a free use of spirituous liquors, you will soon make large
strides in the road to drunkenness, and it is to be feared, in a little
time will become confirmed sots.
If, therefore, you love yourselves ; if you have any concern for
the health of your bodies and the peace of your minds ; if you are
desirous of acquiring and preserving a good name, and of living in
repute with the wise and good ; if it is your aim and ambition to be
prosperous and successful in your worldly business, and to promote
your secular interest, as you very lawfully may within, certain bounds :
HISTORY OF NATICK. 173
if you would prevent the grief and displeasure of your parents and
superiors ; above all, if you would prevent the displeasure and be
happy in the favor of your Maker, and secure the- salvation of your
souls, let me beseech and entreat you to keep at a distance from the
intoxicating cup ; to avoid all commerce and society with those who
show a love for strong drinks, and are sottishly inclined. And let
me affectionately charge you to shun those places, whether taverns
or private houses, where strong liquor is plentifully used. Exercise
a proper caution in time, before this bewitching practice is formed
into a settled habit, that you may be aware of your danger, and to
put you upon earnest prayer to the Author of your being, for the as-
sistance and restraints of his grace, without which the strongest res-
olutions and efforts of your own may lead you as feathers before the
wind of temptation.
2. I now turn to parents and heads of families. I cannot but
conclude that all heads of families, whether as parents, or masters
and mistresses, are desirous that their children and servants should
abstain from that pernicious vice on which we have been discoursing.
It is so contrary to the common sense and reason of every one ; it
is so solemnly exposed in the word of God, it has such a beautifu
tendency, and is followed with such direful effects, that a man must
be void of all natural affection, and of all sense of duty, not to be
filled with concern, even to anxiety, for the children of his own bowels,
and for others who are placed under his care, lest they should be
initiated and established in those habits of drinking spirituous liquors
to excess, which are followed with such a train of evils. You must
be sensible it is your duty to improve all proper occasion to remon-
strate against so heinous a sin, and to put them- upon their guard
against all temptation to it, and to prevent, as much as in you lies,
their going to such places as expose them to the allurements of those
sons of licentiousness, who are known to be inclined to excess, and
use their influence to intoxicate others. But with what countenance
can you exert that authority with which your Maker and Master in
heaven has clothed you — with what assurance can you exhort and
charge your children and servants, — or with what propriety or con
sistence can you set before them the guilt and danger of frequenting
taverns and other drinking houses, and taking down large quantities
of spirituous and intoxicating liquors, if at the same time your own
practice and example speak quite another language ; and which, if it
174 HISTORY OF NATICK.
had its full influence, Tvould be more powerful and effectual than all
your admonitions and remonstrances to the contrary ? Should any
of you, after you have been abroad, either at a public house, or at
the house of a neighbor and acquaintance, return home overcome
viith strong drink, unable to give your words their full sound, and
yet perhaps full of talk, exposing yourselves, by your impertinence
and folly, if not by the outbreakings of the angry and rougher
passions, what a figure must you make in the eyes of a sober and
virtuous woman to whom you stand in the nearest relation ! How
must she be affected by so melancholy a spectacle, sometimes
casting her eyes upon you with an aspect of full concern and pity,
and perhaps some mixture of just resentment ; then upon her chil-
dren Avith looks full of grief and dejection, with the language of most
expressive silence, unable to utter herself either to you or to thera !
To them what can she say relating to you, but what must, at least
implicitly, impeach and censure your conduct ? And what can she
say to you, to which you will pay any regard, if those faculties are
stupefied by the fumes of liquors, which should lend a listening ear
to what she might offer, with all the prudence and tenderness which
could be reasonably expected from one in so perplexed a situation ?
But there is a supposition which strikes the mind more forcibly,
and is really more grevious and confounding than this ; it is that of
the other head of the family being overcharged and disordered by
the operation of strong drink. To see a woman in this condition,
setting aside all the delicacy, modesty, and sobriety of her sex, so
far from " managing her affairs with discretion" like a good house-
wife, that she is unable to manage them at all ; to see her dis-
gorging her folly through the want of regard to the modest reserve,
which, when properly timed, sits so agreeably on the sex ; to see
and hear her venting her rage or her vanity, according to the ascend-
ency which different passions may have over her ; to behold a fe-
male form overspread with all the marks and tokens which usually
attend a fit of drunkenness ; her children around her without direc-
tion, without instruction, and in vain calling upon her for the sup-
plies of daily food, or warm and decent clothing, which it is her
province to prepare for them ; her husband nonplussed, discon-
certed, grieved, and justly offended, her sex disgraced, and all who
are any way connected with her ashamed.
Had not some parents been too remiss in the important duty of
HISTORY OF NATICK. 175
restraining their children and others of their household, and allowed
them to be too much at their own disposal, it is probable there would
not be so many instances of young persons being so vicious, and so
much inclined to excess, as there now are. If, therefore, you have
the common feelings of humanity, and much more, if you have any
parental affection and bowels of Christian compassion for the souls
and bodies of your children, if you have any concern for their repu-
tation and usefulness in this world, and for their everlasting happiness
in the next, keep them from such disorderly houses, and from asso-
ciating with those who are known to be given to excess.
And if it is your duty to prevent your children from frequenting
taverns and drinking to excess, certainly you are under obligation to
abstain from them yourselves. Taverns were never designed for
town dwellers, and the consequence of your example may be great.
I have been thus plain in setting forth the dreadful consequence
of frequenting taverns, from an earnest desire of throwing in my mite
to prevent their taking place. But the text and subject leads me,
Thirdly, to form a more particular address to those who are li-
censed to keep public houses of entertainment, and to vend and retail
spirituous liquors.
There is scarcely any person in common life, who has so great an
injfluence, either to be serviceable or hurtful to society or individuals,
as your employment gives occasion for you to be.
As you conduct in your particular department, so the morals of
many among us will be more or less affected. Suffer me, therefore,
with all freedom which is consistent with decency, and with all that
plainness which may be used without giving offence, to put to you
the following queries : —
In the first place, then, do you keep close to the original design of
your appointment to this business, which is almost entirely for the
refreshment and accommodation of those who are journeying, and of
those who cannot, without great inconvenience and expense, transact
some particular kinds of business elsewhere, and also that private
families may not be incommoded by travellers on the road, especially
at unseasonable hours ? If you suffer town dwellers to sit drinking
and carousin": in vour houses until ten or eleven o'clock in the
evening, or until midnight, or beyond it, do you not act beside the
intention of your being allowed to keep public houses, and perv^ert
their use and design ?
176 HISTORY OF NATICK.
But this is not all. Are not the consequences with respect to those
whom you thus indulge, very pernicious ? A total neglect of family
worship in the evening, if not in your own families, which surely
cannot be so seriously and composedly attended, yet in the families
of those you thus entertain, and an unfitness for the performance of
it in the morning after such excesses ! A wasting of the earnings of
the day, to the injury and distress of almost half starved families at
home ; misspending precious time ; inverting the order of nature, turn-
ing night into day ! Inability to satisfy the most righteous demands
of those who have furnished them upon credit with the necessaries
of life ! Casting off the fear of God, and ruining their souls ! Sup-
pose your own children should be reduced to this, through the indul-
gence and allurements of others ; would it not raise the warmest in-
dignation in your breasts, and draw the severest censures from you ?
And should not such examples in others be improved as cautions to
every one how they in the least degree administer the means, or
are instrumental of such wretchedness and misery ? They have
precious and immortal souls, the salvation of which, if you have
a proper sense of its importance, you will think it your duty, as
much as in you lies, to promote, beside which, they are your fellow
creatures, and members of the same body politic with you. In these
two respects you are connected with them, and are obliged, by the
bonds of nature and the ties of civil society, to prevent them as
much as possible from doing themselves and those nearly related to
them any harm. I therefore warn you against the evils which have
been enumerated ; against being concerned and instrumental in the
least degree in the intoxication of any, or in the consequences which
usually proceed from excessive drinking.
I leave what has been offered, to your serious consideration, and
to the blessing of God to make it successful !
To conclude, let us all be upon our guard while inhabitants of this
ensnaring world, and while we carry about with us these bodies of
flesh, the appetites of which are so apt to be irregular, and to exceed
their proper bounds, even in things lawful and allowable. And to
our watchfulness let us add prayer to God for the aids of his grace,
without which we shall fail in a day of trial. Let us remember that
the exact boundaries between sobriety and intemperance are so im-
perceptible, like the shades in a picture, or the colors of a rainbow,
that it is difficult to determine precisely where the one begins and
HISTORY OF NATICK. 177
the other ends, and that, therefore, it will be the wisest and safest to
* keep at a distance from the utmost limits, and rather to refrain in
some things, which may be innocent and lawful, than to go beyond
and indulge ourselves in those which are not so.
Let us also be careful to distinguish between temperance, as it is
a natural, and as it is a moral and Christian virtue ; and also as it is
confined to an abstinence from the excessive use of strong drink,
and as it extends to all those duties which are included in the general
idea of sobriety.
We may be strictly sober and temperate as to meats and drinks,
either from covetousness, from motives of worldly prudence, or from
a regular and well-poised constitution, which may be so far from in-
clining us to excess this way, that it may rather make us averse to
every irregularity. But let us. consider that we must be so from
conscience towards God ; and that humility, contentment, and the
government of all the passions of the mind, as well as the appetites
of the body, are no less branches of that sobriety which Christianity
requires of us, and that we are under the same obligations to prac-
tise them, as we are to observe the rules of temperance and moder-
ation in the use of spirituous and intoxicating liquors. Let us far-
ther consider, that the same reason and authority which enjoin
sobriety and temperance, oblige us also to the practice of righteous-
ness and piety ; and that if we are ever so eminent in our apprehen-
sion, and in the eyes of others, in either of these, separate and apart
from the rest, we shall be so manifestly partial and defective in our
obedience, that our righteousness or goodness will not exceed that of
the ancient Scribes and Pharisees, without which we cannot have ad-
mission into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let us therefore see to it, that we exercise a reverential regard
to God in all the duties of piety, gratitude, and supreme affection ; a
conscientious regard to the rulesof justice, charity, and benevolence ;
and especially a grateful, confidential, and obedient regard to our
Lord Jesus Christ, in his various offices, and as that divine person
through whose mediation, atonement, and intercession alone, we have
any ground to hope for acceptance with God in the ways of well
doing, and by the influence and acceptance of whose Spirit, we are
enabled to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the world. Let
each of these have a proper place, and their due weight and impor-
tance with U3 ; and may we all be pious and temperate, faithful, and
12
178 HISTORY OF NATICK.
just to the end of life, and finally receive the rewards of sudiin the
world above, through the merit and advocacy of our Great Redeem-
er. Amen, and Amen."
The ladies of the place have cheered on these efforts, have formed
themselves into societies, and visited the homes of inebriates, and
cast the rumseller from their sympathy and regard.
The friends of the cause have at times during the progress of the
strife, been cheered by the exchange of congratulations and good
wishes. In 1845 a banner was presented by the Martha Washing-
ton Society, to the Young Men's Temperance Society. The occa-
sion was so interesting and important, that none will regret the in-
sertion of an account of it in the present volume. The exercises
took place in the Congregational Church, which was crowded with
citizens and strangers. Miss Bacon, (now the wife of B. F. Ham,
Esq.,) acted as the representative of the ladies, and Hon. Henry
Wilson, of the Young Men's Temperance Society.
The following is a copy of Miss Bacon's speech, and of General
Wilson's reply to it : —
" Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Young Men's Temperance
Society : — This occasion is a most appropriate one for expressing our
thanks to you for the present interesting and prosperous state of the
Temperance Reform in this village. But a few weeks since, Avhen
this good cause seemed languishing, you came to the rescue, formed
a society, and not merely adopted resolutions, but followed them
with vigorous and persevering action.
Your labors have not been in vain, and are worthy of our sincere
commendation. What should the ladies do but follow so noble an
example ? We felt that it was a cause that had done much for
woman, and one in which she must not be contented with a silent
part. We therefore formed a Martha Washington Society, in be-
half of which I now address you. We wish to assure you of our
sympathy and cooperation, and as a testimonial of our friendship
we now present you with this banner. Allow me to call your atten-
tion to its motto : ' Man, the image of God.'
You are aware that nothing tends so much to destroy this glorious
image as intemperance ; therefore slay its destroyer. Let all your
movements be characterized by dignity and love, and at the same
HISTORY OF NATICK. 179
time be fearless and bold in reproving the sin, wherever and in
whatever form it maj be found. Teach by precept and example
that the pledge is a sacred oath that may not be trifled with, with
impunity ; and may your course be onward, may the star of hope
illumine your path until its beams are lost in the brightness of a
full and perfect victory."
Mr. Wilson replied as follows : —
" Madam : — In receiving at your hands this beautiful banner from
the ladies of the Martha Washington Society, permit me, in return, in
behalf of my associates, to tender to you and the ladies whose organ you
are, our sincere and grateful acknowledgments for this expression of
your favor. For this evidence of zeal in our cause, and regard for
our success, you have the thanks of many warm and generous hearts,
that will ever throb with grateful recollection of your kindness till
they shall cease to beat forever. We receive, madam, Avith the
deepest and liveliest sensibility, the kind sentiments you have ex-
pressed in behalf of our Society. Be assured that these sentiments
are appreciated and reciprocated by us.
You have this day, ladies, consecrated and devoted this banner to
the great moral movement of the age. We accept its guardianship
with mingled feelings of pride, hope, and joy. It is indeed a fit and
noble tribute, an offering worthy of the cause and of you. May its
fair folds never be stained or dishonored by any act of ours. Taste-
ful and expressive in design and execution, we prize it highly for its
intrinsic worth, but we prize it still higher as a manifest and enduring
memorial of your devotion to principle and duty. Ever proud shall
we be to unroll its gorgeous folds to the sunshine and the breeze, to
gather round it and rally under it, and guard and defend it, as
we would defend from every danger its fair and generous donors. It
was not intended that the eye should feast alone on its splendor, but
that so often as the eye should gaze upon it, a quick and lively ap-
preciation of the transcendent magnitude of the cause to which you
have devoted it, should live in our understanding and affect our
hearts.
Ours is a peaceful reform, a moral warfare. We are not called
upon to leave our homes and the loved ones that cluster around our
domestic altars, to go to the field of bloody strife, on an errand of
180 HISTORY OF NATICK.
wrath and hatred. Our battles are bloodless, our victories are
tearless.
Yet the contest in which we are engaged is a fearful one, for it
is a struggle with the vitiated and depraved appetites and passions
of our fallen race, foes that have triumphed over earth's brightest
and fairest, over all that is noble in man and lovely in woman. These
foes have gathered their victims from every clime and every age.
No age, sex, or condition has escaped — heroes who have led their
mailed legions over a hundred fields of glory and renown, and planted
their victorious eagles on the capitals of conquered nations — states-
men who have wielded the destinies of mighty empires, setting up
and pulling down thrones and dynasties, and stamping the impress of
their genius upon the institutions of their age — orators who have
held listening senates in mute and rapt admiration, and whose elo-
quence has thrown a hale of imperishable light and unfading glory
over their age and nation — scholars who have laid under contribu-
tion the vast domains of matter and mind, grasping and mastering
the mighty problems of moral, intellectual, and physical science, and
left behind them monuments of toil and wisdom, for the study and
admiration of all ages, have been the victims, the slaves of these
foes — foes which we have pledged ourselves to conquer. In this
fearful contest we will bear aloft this banner, and when the conflict
thickens, when trials, doubts, and temptations come around us like the
floods, may it glitter through the gloom, like a beacon light over the
dark and troubled waste of waters, a sign of hope and promise, to
which may come, in the hour of loneliness, sorrow and penitence,
some erring and fallen brother. You can sustain us by your prayers,
and cheer us by your approving smiles. You can visit, as you have
done, the drunkard's home of poverty, destitution, and misery, and
by ofiices of kindness and charity do something to dry up the tears
and alleviate the wants of its neglected and sorrowing inmates.
Every great struggle for humanity has been blessed by woman's
prayers, and aided by her generous toil. The history of our country,
of our own renowned Commonwealth, is full of the noblest instances
of her constancy and devotion. She trod with our fathers the deck
of the Mayflower. She sat beside them in unrepining and uncom-
plaining constancy as they gathered in council, houseless and
homeless in mid-winter, to lay, in prayers and tears, the found-
ations of a free Christian Commonwealth. In the long, perilous
HISTORY OF NATICK. 181
struggles with the wild sons of the forest, she shared without com-
plaint their privations and dangers. And in the great struggle for
independence, she counselled the wise, infused courage into the brave,
armed fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers, and sent them to the
field where freedom was to be won by blood. In the great struggle
in which we are engaged to free our native land from the blighting,
withering, soul-destroying curse of intemperance, our fair country-
women have shown that they inherit the virtues of our patriotic
mothers.
Ladies ! you have this day given us substantial evidence of your
friendship, sympathy, and cooperation. May we not then indulge
the hope that our Societies will move along in union and harmony,
each in its appropriate sphere of duty, laboring to hasten on the
day when every drunkard shall be redeemed and restored to his
manhood and to society ?
Friends and associates ! We shall doubtless in the changes and
mutations of hfe be called to separate. Wherever we may go, on
the land or on the sea, in our own or other chmes, may a deep and
abiding sense of duty go with us. May the influences of this hour
be ever upon us. May this banner, the gift of those near and dear
to us, ever float in our mind's eye, inciting us to duty, and guarding
us in the hour of temptation. And when life's labors are done, its
trials over and its honors won, may each of us have the proud con-
sciousness that we have kept the pledge inviolate, that we have done
something in our day and generation for our race, something that
shall cause our names and memories to be mentioned with respect and
gratitude, when ' tlie golden howl shall he hroken and the silver cord
loosed)'' when our ' bodies ' shall have mouldered and mingled with
the dust, and ' our spirits have returned to Cfod who gave them.'' "
Among the leaders in this movement may be enumerated, as its
unyielding friends in its first commencement and during its progress,
Rev. Stephen Badger, Rev. Isaac Jennison, John Bacon, 3d, Hon.
Chester Adams, Rev. Martin Moore. It has been advocated from
the pulpit on the Sabbath, and in every house has it been proclaimed
to be a duty to abstain from intoxicating drinks. Young men felt
the influence of these teachings, and now attribute their respecta-
bility and enjoyment to the fact that they have ever given heed to
the lesson.
182 HISTORY OP NATICK.
The results of efforts in this cause, so far as they can be expressed
in words, are these : Thirteen places for the sale of intoxicating
drinks have been closed ; more than that number who trafficked in
it to some extent, have abandoned it. A perceptible and almost
universal change in the customs of the people is everywhere seen —
in the houses, in the social habits of the village, in the public opinion
of what is hospitable and kind. Strong drinks are no longer common
refreshments for friends, nor used at committee meetings, musters,
law-suits, or weddings.
FINIS.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
OLD AND NEW STYLE.
The New Style was adopted by Great Britain in 1751, when a
law was passed enacting that the year 1752 should begin on the
first day of January, that the 3d of September should be reckoned
the 14th, and that the intermediate eleven days should be omitted
from the calendar. In the Old or Julian Style the year began the
25th of March, and contained 365 days, 6 hours ; in the New or
Gregorian Style the year began the 1st of January, and contained
365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, 12 seconds, differing from the true
tropical year 22 seconds only, and making a difference in the two
styles of one day in 129 years. One is made nearly conformable
to the other by dropping one day from the Old and adding one to
the New in each century, excepting every fourth, whose centennial
year is considered Leap Year.
186 APPENDIX.
DOUBLE DATING.
Several instances occur in the course of our work of " double
dating, " deeds, &c., bearing a date of two years, as 1734-5, &c.
It is proper that this practice should be explained. It is to be
referred to the alteration in the calendar.
After the calendar was corrected by Pope Gregory XIII, in
1582, though the correction was immediately adopted by all Catholic
countries, it was not adopted by England until 1752. Most of the
other nations having adopted the New Style, it was thought proper to
pay some regard to it by double dating. It could be used only
between January 1st and March 25th. Thus in the first example in
the history, March 8, 1656-7, it would be '56 in the Old Style,
because the year according to that style would not close until March
25 ; but in the New Style it would be '57, because the year according
to that style had already commenced on the 1st of January.
Double dating ceased about 1752. The New Style was generally
adopted and the Old forgotten.
y^c^-^^.
ArPENDIX. 187
WILLIAM BIGELOW.
Mr. Buckingham, in his newspaper reminiscences, gives some
account of Bigelow and his works, 'which will not be uninteresting
to those who remember him, or to all lovers of poetry and good
fellowship.
" He graduated the second scholar in his class, and all his class-
mates thought he should have been first. After he left college he
taught a school in Lancaster, and commenced a course of study
with Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, of that town, intending to follow the
profession of a clergyman. While here he wrote ' Omnium Gath-
erum,' for the Federal Orrery. To add to his ' slender means ' of
support, while pursuing his preparatory study, he engaged in the
management of the Village Messenger, and subsequently wrote for
the Massachusetts Magazine, published^ in Boston.
I have not been able to ascertain the precise time when Mr.
Bigelow began to preach. It must have been in 1799 or 1800.
About this time he settled in Salem as a teacher, and had a private
classical school of great celebrity, preaching occasionally as circum-
stances favored his disposition for that employment. He was
frequently called upon to preach in the church in Brattle square,
Boston.
He removed from Salem to Boston to take charge of the Public
Latin School. This place he held several years, and a part of that
time supplied the pulpit of the meeting-house in HoUis street, after
the death of the Rev. Dr. West and previous to the settlement of
Rev. Horace Holley. Several of his pupils are still living to testify
to his wrorth. Among these are Hon. Edward Everett, Rev. N. L.
Frothingham, Charles P. Curtis, Esq., and Dr. Edward Reynolds.
A propensity to convivial indulgence, first acquired no doubt at
college, brought on infirm health, which compelled him to leave the
school and retire to his native village. He passed some time in
Maine, keeping school and writing for newspapers ; but Natick was his
homo, and there he always found a retreat when pursued by poverty
188 APPENDIX.
and sickness. He was accustomed to walk to Boston, sometimes to
ride with people who followed the marketing business, and spend a
day or two in the newspaper printing offices, write poetry for his
friends the editors, and then return to his rural retreat.
The latter part of his life he spent principally at Cambridge, where
he was employed as a proof-reader at the University printing office.
This was an employment suited to his age and taste.
While he was engaged in teaching Mr. Bigelow prepared and
published several books for the use of pupils preparing for a colle-
giate course, which were approved and much used. In 1830 he
published a short history of Natick and Sherborn. But it is by his
poetical pieces of wit and humor that he will be most delightfully
remembered. In 1844 he was engaged in proof-reading in an
establishment in Boston which had just been removed from Cam-
bridge. On the morning of January 10th he was seized with apo-
plexy and lingered until the evening of the 12th, when he died.
His remains were interred at Natick.
Whatever were the errors of Mr. Bigelow's early years, they
involved no dereliction from honesty and truth. Social indulgence in
youth grew into a habit, which was the bane of his life in subsequent
years, — a habit which it was hard to conquer, but which he did
conquer, though at a period when physical vigor was prostrated and
mental energy enfeebled, and the ' genial current of the soul ' not
frozen, but humbled under a painful sense of errors which no regret
could relieve, and the consequences of short-comings in duty which
no recompense could fully repair."
The following sketch of the character of Mr. Bigelow appeared in
the Boston Courier a few days after his death : " He was in the first
place a scholar, ' and a ripe and good one,' possessed of a mind which
mastered much with apparently but small effijrt, imbued deeply with
the fine elegance of classical literature, and possessed besides of an
attic wit which was the perpetual delight of his friends — a wit
' that loved to play, not wound.' Had his mind been disciplined or
inured to anything more than desultory or occasional effort, he might
have done much more. As it was, everything that he wrote, and at
various times published, showed great power. His sermons were
serious and devout, and distinguished by strong sense. He compiled
several reading books for children, which gained him high reputa-
tion, and an excellent Latin Reader. He was however most known
APPENDIX. 189
for his poetry — full of good humor, knowledge of character, a ready
and original style of mt, and occasional pathos, "which came over
the soul with a stronger influence because it came from a heart rich
with all the sympathies of a most kind and generous spirit."
After all that can be said of his mental attainments, or the
strength which gave them birth, it is still on the qualities of his
heart that his friends must now dwell with the most delight. He
carried through life that true test of real talent, simplicity and
buoyancy of feeling, which did not dread degradation from the com-
pany of children, which loved to lay itself open to their often acute
examination, a heart favorable to all the influences of nature and
truth. My first remembrance of him is as a sort of commander of
a military corps, composed of his scholars in Salem, which he called
the Trojan band, and the untiring assiduity and kindness with which
he marched and countermarched this miniature company first made
me love him. From this time for forty years I scarcely saw him.
In the retirement of Natick it was my fortune once again to meet
him during the last summer, his health evidently somewhat impaired
by time, but his spirit still elastic and playful, almost as in the days
of infancy. Playful indeed, but still ever and anon through its
play would glance the influence of a spirit somewhat saddened by
misfortune and time, but open to all good influences, with no
shade of misanthropy or discontent to sully its purity, which
proved its communion with Heaven by loving all that was worthy of
its love on earth. I have spoken of his intemperance because he
himself would not have wished it corrected. He was indeed very
far from boasting of his recovery from it, and still further from call-
ing public attention to it, or making it a source of profit by lectures.
He knew indeed that those who knew him must have felt the evil of
intemperance with a force stronger than any words could utter. He
was loved by all ; with a strong mind, and perhaps somewhat proud
by nature, distinguished for his attainments, known but not feared
for his wit. What such a being might have been, had his mind been
talced to its utmost, all could sec. The comparative obscurity of
his latter days must have pained him, but if so, the pain did not
make him harsh or unkind, and the consequences of his improper
indulgence, though so nobly redeemed, would still make themselves
felt with utterance.
He was indeed a true-hearted and most kind man. It was
190 APPENDIX.
delightful to meet with him during the last summer, relieved for a
few weeks from the drudgery of his daily avocation, surrounded by
his friends, and to recall with him the tradition of such a place as
Natick ; to stand with him under the oak from which the apostolic
Eliot called the wild Indian to repentance and to Christ ; to wander
forth through the deep shades and still pastures, tracing the dwelUng
places of those sons of the forest, or kneeling over the gray stones
which marked their last resting-places on earth. Here too he
recalled with me the memories of the loved and lost whom he had
known in early life, and here too he spoke of one whose soul was
even then stretching her wings for immortal flight.
The compiler has several of Mr. Bigelow's poetical effusions in
his hands, some of them of a local character, which he wishes to
place before his readers, and dares to do so even at the risk of being
prolix on this subject.
The first from which he makes selection is an advertisement of
John Brown, who kept a shop near his residence in South Natick.
His friends well remember the occasion of his writing it. It formed
the amusement of an hour, and runs thus :
TO THE PUBLIC
1.
Know ye John Brown of Natick town,
In Middlesex scilicet,
Doth make this call on one and all,
In language most explicit.
Men, women, maids, in way of trade,
Who are to him indebted,
Must call and pay, or their delay
Will be by them regretted.
And by liim too, for he must sue.
And that will cost him trouble,
That unto them the cost and shame
Will make their debts quite double.
APPENDIX.
With much delight he doth invite
All those that have him trusted,
To call with speed, as was agreed,
And have their claims adjusted.
His tavern still, with all ais skill.
He keeps for entertaining,
Well stored with food and drink that 's good.
Enough to drown complaining.
6.
His parlors neat, his chambers sweet,
Adorned with bed and bedding,
Rxig, blanket, sheet, all things complete,
Fit even for a wedding.
7.
His store, beside, is well supplied
With goods (worth close attention
Of candid minds) of various kinds.
Too numerous here to mention.
8.
Among the rest he keeps the best
Of brandy, rum, and whiskey,
And wine and gin, and better sling.
To make his guests feel frisky.
9.
Good lemonade as ere v/as made.
Large and small looking glasses ;
Essence of spruce, and apple juice.
Salt beef, pork, and molasses.
10.
Powder and shot, which he will not
Sell till the fourth of July,
That to that day the bird-law may
13 e well obsciTcd and trulv.
191
192 APPENDIX.
Postscript added in 1832 :
1.
Although John Brovrn has left the town,
And tarem house to Whiting,
The same old stand with the new hand
Is equally inviting.
2.
The store, it seems, is left to Eames,
Who to the very letter,
'Tis understood makes John's place good,
And strives to m^ake it better.
After Bigelow left the Messenger lie sent a number of articles to
the Farmer's Museum, which as they were " composed of a variety
of material intended to effectuate the destruction of such enemies
of mankind as spleen, immorahty, and irreligion," he proposed to
call " Olio." The following is the first of the number, and with it
we bid adieu to this gifted but unfortunate son of Natick.
EXTRACT FROM A MANUSCRIPT POEM
In baUards first I spent my boyish time.
At college next I soared in doggerel rhyme,
Then of a school the master and adorner,
I scribbled verses for a Poet's Corner.
But when, erewhile, I strove with slender means,
Newspapers to edit, and Magazines,
The public frowned, and warned me at my peril.
To drop the pen and reassumo the ferule.
And now, enchanting Poetry, adieu !
Thy siren charms no longer I pursue ;
Past are those days of indolence and joy.
When tender parents nursed theu- darling boy,
In Harvard's walls maintained me many a year.
Nor let one dun discordant grate my ear.
For love of thee I quitted love of gold,
My Pike neglected, and my Euclid sold ;
On fancy's mngs from poverty upborne.
Saw not my coat was patched, my stockings torn ;
APPENDIX. 193
With childish creep approached Pieria's springs,
Nor, when a man, could "put off" childish things."
Still by some ignis fatutcs led astray,
I 've "wandered on through many a dismal way.
Have seen my golden prospects end in dross.
Fought for a myrtle crown, and gained a cross.
Too proud to court the little or the great,
Thy votaries never rise in church or State —
Not all thy power from bailiffs can secure,
Nor coax our wary fair to •' marry poor."
Farewell ! On others inspiration flash ;
Give them eternal fame, — but give me cash.
Adieu, thou busy world ! I quit thy cares.
Thy luring smiles I've viewed, and found them snares ;
Thy towering hopes pursued, and found them vain ;
Thy pleasures tasted, and have found them pain ;
Far other objects now my heart shall bind
With sacred truths to store my youthful mind ;
The lessons learn by Godlike reason given.
And trace religion's path which leads to Heaven.
Charles Chatteebox,
13
UH APPENDIX.
PICTURE OF BUNYAN'S PILGRIM.
This beautiful design, which in the body of this work we noticed
as having originated with Rev. Daniel Wight, has met with the most
flattering reception on both sides of the Atlantic. Lawyers, states-
men, artists, editors, clergymen, have given their recommendations
to it in its design and execution. We give the testimonials of sev-
eral of those who are best known in this country and in Europe.
From Rev. E. N. Kirk, Pastor of the Mount Vernon Church in
Boston :
Mr. Jewett: Dear Sir — My opinion of this picture is
unqualified. I have seen many productions of the pencil, and the
graver, many allegorical paintings, but this stands alone. Bunyan
has that sure mark of genius that he kindles his fires in other souls,
and makes the pen and pencil in other hands feel the inspiration of
his own heart. You must not indeed expect this piece to rank with
the classic works of the masters, simply because it starts from a
different conception, and is wrought under restrictions to which their
authors were not subjected. Raphael and Angelo chose their sub-
jects, and so had unlimited scope for the imagination ; but Billings
and Andrews had their subjects prescribed. The former could pour
their glowing conceptions of beauty into single figures, for the most
part nearly or quite of natural size. The latter have been compelled
to put two hundred and eighty human figures into a plate of thirty
by twenty-four inches. The former had one incident, or one face, or
one scene to paint ; the latter had the whole Pilgrim's Progress to
describe. Angelo had hundreds of square feet on which to exhibit
one scene, in human experience — The Judgment, — our artists had
not more than five square feet for portraying the whole moral history
of man. And yet we miss nothing of importance here.
But when the project was first mentioned, the objection at once
arose — a picture cannot be made of Pilgrim's Progress, both
APPENDIX. 195
because the road must make zigzag lines from the bottom to the top,
thus preventing all picturesque effect, and because all unity must
be destroyed bj the immensely varied repetitions of the principal
figure. How great then ia our admiration at seeing the power of
native art, or of taste and good sense, manifested in overcoming these
inherent difficulties.
The first glance at the engraving produces a perfectly picturesque
effect by the general distribution of the light and shade. Yet in
that one picture the Avhole allegory of the Christian Pilgrim is pre-
sented without confusion, without false perspective, without violence
done to the proportions of any part.
Then a still closer inspection shows that the one picture in reality
consists of forty or fifty, and if you inquire for the interpreter's
house, that difficult subject for the painter, as it contains pictures
within a picture, you will find the difficulty ingeniously and tastefully
overcome by putting these plates in medallions on the lower border
of the plate.
Proceeding to form a more particular conception of the piece, you
perceive an admirable harmony between the light and shade or tone
of the picture and that of the subject. The eye at first rests on deep
shadow where Pilgrim is found in the City of Destruction. As you
follow him, he passes through alternate lights and shades and over
hills and valleys ; but as you see him approach the close of his con-
flicts and his toil, a serene and holy light fills the eye, and so he
enters heaven ; a scene of calm but holy animation rests on the
fields and cities of the celestial Canaan. I surely may say I have
not in my recollection a picture which in its moral and religious
effects is so impressive and instructive. Man's moral history, — his
conflicts, his joys, his invisible enemies and friends, the humble
beginning of his heavenward march in fear and sorrow, his alterna.
tions of hope and doubt, and his glorious reception into the celestial
city, — is hero most graphically and beautifully spread bef()i-e you.
As a work of art I must therefore think it stands among the first
our country has produced, while as an instructive and impressive
family picture I know not its equal. Yours, most truly,
Edw. N. Kirk.
Beacon street, Boston^ June, 1853.
19(3 APPENDIX.
We have space for only one more notice from the London Morning
Advertiser :
" Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in one hundred tableaux. —
A remarkable v.ork of art has just been submitted to our notice.
It is an etching of most elaborate execution, of large dimensions,
finished by cross hatching and shading till'ithas the finish and effect
of line engraving. Some idea of the labor and artistic knowledge
required to render such a multiplicity of figures effective, and to
prevent the ensemble from offending the eye of taste, may be gath-
ered from the fact that no less than one hundred subjects in a
vignette form are combined into the one picture. These scenes
embody the whole of the salient points of the immortal work of
John Bunyan.
Beginning at the lower corner at the right hand we have No. 1,
' The City of Destruction, or this world,' and proceed through all
the varied adventures of Christian. Many of these are delightfully
suggestive of the symbolic imaginings of the quaint old tinker of
Bedford, whose charming allegory has entranced the child, the poet,
iand the sage. ' The Doubting Castle of Giant Despair' (13), with
ts imprisoned pilgrims, and shepherds on ' Delectable mountains '
leaning on their staves, are happy points of contrast. ' The River
of Death' (No. 98), with its dark and bridgeless water from which
nature shrinks back though heaven is sure beyond, ' and the crowds
of angels before the Gate Beautiful,' and the transfigured pilgrims
entering ' the Celestial City' (No. 98), may be viewed as com-
pleting the pictorial story. The drawing throughout is highly cred-
itable to American art, and the print, which is well worthy a frame,
will form a suggestive embellishment for the wall, more pregnant
than the moral apothegms which in Eastern countries speak to the
inhabitants of their dwellings."
The work is every way remarkable.
APPENDIX. 197
ADJOINING TOWNS.
The towns which lie about Natick possess generally the same
features which have been described as belon ^ing to this town. They
have New England's climate, New England's lakes and ponds,
rivers and brooks, and manners and customs, A traveller, either
on foot or by carriage, will meet with hearty " good mornings " from
many smiling lips, and with insult from no one. He perhaps may
feel a shudder if he chance to come near a school-house, but not
unless he has been in the habit of passing them in former years.
Improvement in this regard is clearly visible, and the passer-by is
now more often met by a bow than by a shout or a shower of snow-
balls.
Among the valleys and rural districts in the vicinity is much more
of the primitive simplicity of New England in earlier times than is
generally supposed.
The humble virtue's hospitable home,
And spirit pious, patient, proud, and free ;
The self-respect grafted on innocent thoughts,
The days of health and nights of sleep.
The toils dignified by skill, the hopes
Of cheerful old age, and a quiet grave.
But we will be somewhat more minute in our description of the
towns which lie immediately about us.
Dover, which lies to the northeast of Natick, was originally a
part of Dedham. It was incorporated as a precinct in 1748, and as
a town in 1784. The church was embodied in 1762, and Rev.
Benjamin Caryl was its minister the same year. He continued in
the pastoral office forty-one years, and was succeeded by llev. Ralph
Sawyer, who was settled in 1812. The surface of this town is
uneven, and a considerable portion of it is covered with wood. Pine
198 APPENDIX.
Hill, in this town, near the Medfield line, is 400 feet above Charles
River. Population is about 600. Distance from Natick five miles,
and from Boston fourteen. Charles River village, in the northeast
corner, is a manufacturing place.
Sherborn. This town lies to the south of Natick. It was incor-
porated in 1674, and during its history has been more connected
with Natick than any of the adjoining towns. It was Sherborn with
whom Natick exchanged lands. The Sherborn minister lectured
constantly for years to the Natick Indians. The site of the meeting-
house is elevated, and the town possesses a rich soil, though some-
what rocky. There are two Congregational churches in the town,
one of which is Unitarian. Its population is about 1200. The
shoe business is carried on to some extent. Straw bonnets are man-
ufactured in two or three shops. In this town the celebrated Fisher
Ames first commenced the practice of law.
A large proportion of the farms are owned, occupied and improved
by the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth generations, descended from
those who reclaimed them from the wilderness.
Framingham. This town lies to the west of Natick, and is well
known as one of the finest farming towns in the State. It was
incorporated in 1700. In this year it was by the General Court
" ordered that said plantation, called Framingham, be henceforth a
township, retaining the name of Framingham, and have and enjoy
all the privileges of a town according to law." The first minister of
the place was Rev. John Swift, who was ordained October, 1701,
and died in 1745, aged 67. This town is about six miles from
Natick, and twenty-one from Boston. The centre village contains
eighty dwelling houses and four churches — one Orthodox, one Uni-
tarian, one Baptist, one Universalist.
Saxonville, a manufacturing town, is two and one half miles to
the east of this, and is connected with Natick by a railroad.
APPENDIX. 199
Wayland. This town, which lies on the north of Natick, bore
the name of East Sudbury from 1780 to 1835. It is separated on
the west from Sudbury by the river of that name, which annually
overflows a large tract of land to the west and north of the town.
In February, 1722-3, the church at Sudbury was by a vote of its
members divided into two distinct churches. Mr. Cook was ordained
the pastor on the east side of Sudbury River in March of 1723.
He died in 1760. In 1765 the number of houses on the east side
was 112; the number of families, 129; the number of white inhab-
itants, 698. The inhabitants of Wayland are almost exclusively
farmers.
Weston. The exact period (says Dr. Kendall in his Century
Sermon, preach in 1813) when what is now called Weston began
to be settled, is not known, but it must have been pretty early. In
ecclesiastical affairs this town was connected with Watertown about
sixty-eighty and in civil concerns about eighty years. Weston was
incorporated as a distinct town in 1712, previous to which time it
had been a precinct of Watertown. We find the precinct in 1706
was presented at the Court of Sessions on account of their not
having a settled minister. Rev. William Williams was ordained
here in 1709 ; Rev. Samuel Woodard, the successor of Mr. Wil-
liams, in 1751. This town is the residence of many people from
Boston during the summer months.
Needham. This bounds Natick on the east, and was originally
part of Dedham. Charles River winds around it on three sides,
leaving it in the form of a peninsula. On the banks of the river
are large bodies of meadow land — one to the east, partly in Dedham
and partly in Newton, called Broad's, is said to be the largest in the
State. Two " Falls," Upper and Lower, in the river, give very
valuable water privileges to the town ; at these places are gathered
most of the population. The town was incorporated in 1711.
In connection with our description of the country in this vicinity
a similar description of it in 1629 will bo read with interest. We
200 APPENDIX.
find it in the Massachusetts Historical Society Records for 1792. It
is entitled " New England Plantation, — or,^ a short and true
description of the commodities and discommodities of that country.
Written in the year 1629, by Mr. Higgeson, a reverend divine
now there resident. Whereunto is added a letter sent by Mr.
Graus, an Enginere, out of New England. Reprinted from the
third edition, London, 1530."
" Letting passe our voyage by sea we will now begin our dis-
course on the shore of New England. And because the life and
welfare of every creature heere below, and the commodiousness of
country whereat such creatures live, doth by the most wise ordering
of God's Providence depend next unto himselfe upon the tempera-
ture and disposition of the foure elements, earth, water, aire, and
fire, (for as of the mixture of all these all sublunary things are
composed, so by the more or less enjoyment of the wholesome tem-
per and convenient use of these consisteth the only well being both
of man and beast in a more or less comfortable measure in all coun-
tries under the heavens,) therefore I will endeavour to shew you
what New England is by the consideration of each of these apart,
and truly indeavor by God's helpe to report nothing but the naked
truth, and that both to tell you of the discommodities as well as of
the commodities, though as the idle proverb is, travellers may lye by
authoritie, and so may take too much sinfull libertie that way. Yet
I may say of myselfe, as once Nehemiah did in another case, Shall
such a man as I lie '^ No, verily ; it becometh not a preacher of
truth to be a writer of falshood in any degree ; and therefore I have
beene carefull to report nothing of New England but what I have
partly scene with mine own eyes, and partly heard and enquired
from the mouths of verie honest and religious persons, who, by living
in the countrey a good space of time, have had experience and
knowledge of the state thereof, and whose testimonials I doe believe
as my selfe.
First, therefore, of the earth of New England and all the appurte-
nances thereof. It is a land of divers and sundry sorts all about
Masathulets Bay, and at Charles River is as fat blacke earth as can
be scene anywhere ; and in other places you have a clay soyle, and
APPENDIX. 201
in other gravell, in other sandy, as it is all about our plantation at
Salem, for so our towne is now named.
The forme of the earth here, in the superfices of it, is neither too
flat in the plainnesse, nor too high in hills, but partakes of both in
a mediocritie, and fit for pasture, or for plow or meddow ground, as
men please to employ it ; though all the country bee, as it were, a
thicke wood for the general!, yet in divers places there is much ground
cleared by the Indians, and especially about the plantation. And
I am told that about three miles from us a man may stand on a
little hilly place and see divers thousands of acres of ground as
good as need to be, and not a tree in the same. It is thought here
is good clay to make bricke and tyles and earthen pot as need to
be. At this instant we are setting a brick-kill on worke to make
brickes and tiles for the building of our houses. For stone here is
plentie of slates at the Isle of Slate in Masathulets Bay, and lime-
stone, freestone and smooth-stone, and iron-stone, and marble-stone
also in such store that we have great rocks of it, and a harbour hard
by. Our plantation is from thence called Marble Harbour.
Of minerals there hath yet been but little triall made, yet wo are
not without great hope of being furnished in that soylc.
The fertilitie of the soyle is to be admired at, as appeareth in the
aboundance of grasse that groweth everie where, both verie thicke,
veric long, and verie high, in divers places. But it groweth verie
wildly, with a great stalkc and a broad ranker blade, but it never had
been eaten with cattle, nor mowed with a sythe, and seldome
trampled on by foot. It is scarce to bee believed how our kine and
goates, horses and hogges doe thrive and prosper here, and like well
of this countrey.
In our plantation we have already a quart of milke for a penny ;
but the abundant encrease of corne proves this countrey to bee a
wonderment. Thirtie, fortie, fiftie, sixtie, are ordinarie here. Yea,
Joseph's encrease in iEgypt is outstript here with us. Our planters
hope to have more than a hundred fould this yere ; and all this
while I am within compassc ; what will you say of two hundred
fould and upwards ? It is almost incredible what great gaine some
of our English planters have had by our Indianc corne. Credible
persons have assured me, and the partie himselfe avouched the truth
of it to me, that of the setting of 13 gallons of corne hce hath had
increase of it 52 hogsheads, every hogshead holding seven bushels
202 APPENDIX,
of London measure, and every bushell ^yas by him sold and trusted
to the Indians for so much beaver as was worth 13 shillings ; and so
of this 13 gallons of corne, which was worth 6 shillings 8 pence, he
made about 327 pounds of it the yeere following, as by reckoning
will appeare ; where you may see how God blessed husbandy in this
land. There is not such greate and plentifull eares of corne, I sup-
pose, any where else to bee found but in this countrey. Because
also of varietie of colours, as red, blew, and yellow, &c., and of one
corne there springeth four or five hundred. I have sent you many
eares of divers colours, that you may see the truth of it. Little
children here, by setting of corne, may earne much more than their
owne maintenance.
They have tryed our English corne at New Plimmouth plantation,
so that all our several grains will grow here verie well, and have a
fitting soyle for their nature.
Our Governor hath store of greene pease growing in his garden
as good as ever I eat in England.
This countrey aboundeth naturally with store of roots of great
varietie and good to eat. Our turnips, parsnips, and carrots, are
here both bigger and sweeter than is ordinary to be found in Eng-
land. Here are store of pumpions, cowcombers, and other things
of that nature which I know not. Also divers excellent pot-herbs
grow abundantly among the grasse, as strawberrie leaves in all places
in the countrey, and plentie of strawberries in their time, and penny-
royall, wintersaverie, sorrell, brookeline, liverwort, camell, and water
cresses ; also leekes and onions are ordinarie, and divers physicall
herbs. Here are also abundance of other sweet herbs dehghtful to
the smell, whose names we know not, &c., and plentie of single
damask roses, verie sweete ; and two kinds of herbes that bare two
kinds of flowers very sweet, which they say are as good to make
cordage or cloath as any hempe or flaxe we have. Excellent vines
are here up and downe in the woods. Our Governor hath already
planted a vineyard with great hope of increase.
Also, mulberries, plums, raspberries, corrance, chestnuts, filberds,
walnuts, smalnuts, hurtleberries, and leaves of whitethorne neere
grow in plentie here.
For wood there is no better in the world, I think, here being found
sorts of oke diflfering both in the leafe, timber, and colour, all excel-
lent good. There is also good ash, elme, willow, birch, beech, saxa-
APPENDIX. 203
fras, juniper, cipres, cedar, spruce, pines, and firre that will yeeld
abundance of turpentine, pitch, tarre, masts, and other materials for
building both of ships and houses. Also, here are store of sumacke
trees — they are good for dying and tanning of leather ; likewise
such trees yeeld a precious gum called wine benjamin, that they say
is excellent for perfumes. Also, here be divers roots and berries
wherewith the Indians dye excellent holding colours that no raine
nor washing can alter. Also, wee have materials to make sope —
ashes and salt-peter in aboundance.
For beasts there are some beares, and they say some lyons^ also,
for they have been seen at Cape Anne. Also, here are several
sorts of deere, some whereof bing three or four young ones at
once, which is not ordinarie in England. Also, wolves, foxes, beavers,
otters, martins, great wild cats, and a great beast called a molke, as
bigge as an oxe. I have seen the skins of all these beasts since I
came to this place taken excepting the lyons. Also, here are great
store of squirrels, some greater and some smaller and lesser ; there
are some of the lesser sort, they tell me, that by a certaine skill will
fly from tree to tree, though they stand farre distant.
Of the Waters of New England, with the things belonging to the
same.
New England hath water enough, both salt and fresh — the great-
est sea in the world, the Atlanticke Sea, runs all along the coast
thereof. There are abundance of islands along the shore, some full
of wood and masts, to feed swine ; and others cleere of wood, and
fruitful to bear corne. Also, wee have store of excellent harbours
for ships, as at Cape Anne, and at Masathulets Bay, and at Salem,
and at many other places ; and they are the better because for
strangers there is a verie difficult and dangerous passage into them,
but unto such as are well acquainted with them they are easie and
safe enough. The aboundance of sea fish are almost beyond beleeving,
and sure I should scarce have beleeved it except I had scene it with
mine own eyes. I saw great store of whales, and crampusse, and
such aboundance of mackerils that it would astonish one to behold ;
likewise codfish in aboundance, on the coast, and in their season are
plentifully taken. There is a fish called a basse, a most sweet and
204 APPENDi-t.
wholesome fish as ever I did eate ; it is altogether as good as our
fresh sammon, and the season of their comming was begun when wee
came first to New England in June, and so continued about three
months space. Of this fish our fishers take many hundreds together
which I have seen lying on the shore to my admiration ; yea, their
nets ordinarily take more than they are able to hale to land, and for
want of boats and men they are constrained to let a many goe after
they have taken them, and yet sometimes they fill two boates at a
time with them. And besides basse wee take plentie scate and
thornbacks, and abundance of lobsters, and the leest boy in the
plantation may both catch and eat what he will of them. For my
owne parte, I was soone cloyed with them, they were so great, and
fat, and lussious. I have scene some myselfe that have weighed 16
pound, but others have had, divers times, so great lobsters as have
weighed 25 pounds, as they assure mee. Also, heere is abundance
of herring, turbent, sturgion, cuskes, hadocks, mullets, eeles, crabbes,
muskles, and oysters. Besides, there is probability that the coun-
trey is of an excellent temper for the making of salt. For since
our comming our fishermen have brought home very good salt, which
they found candied, by the standing of the sea water and the heat
of the sunne, upon a rock by the sea shore ; and in divers salt
marshes that some have gone through, they have found some salt in
some places crushing under their feete and cleaving to their shooes.
And as for fresh water, the countrey is full of dainty springs, and
some great rivers, and some lesser brookes ; and at Masathulets Bay
they digged wels and found water at three foot deepe in most places.
And neere Salem they have as fine cleere water as we can desire,
and we may digge wels and find water where we list.
Thus we see both land and sea abound with store of blessings for
the comfortable sustenance of man's life in New England.
Of the Aire of New England, with the Temper and Creatures
in it.
The temper of the aire of New England is one speciall thing that
commends this place. Experience doth manifest that there is hardly
a more healthfull place to be found in the world that agreeth better
with our English bodyes. Many have been weake and sickly in Old
APPENDIX. 205
England, by comming hither have beene thoroughly healed and growne
healthfull strong. For here is an extraordinarie cleere and dry aire,
that is of a most healing nature to all such as are of a cold melan-
choly, flegmatick, rheumatick temper of body. None can more
truly speake hereof by their owne experience than myselfe. My
friends that knew me can well tell how verie sickly I have bin, and
continually in physick, being much troubled with a tormenting paine
through an extraordinarie weaknesse of my stomacke, and aboundance
of melancholicke humors ; but since I came hither on this voyage?
I tharike God, I have had perfect health and freed from paine and
vomiting, having a stomacke to digest the hardest and coarsest fare?
who before could not eat finest meat ; and whereas my stomacke
could onley digest and did require such drinke as was both strong and
stale, now I can and doe often times drink New England water verie
well ; and I that have not gone without a cap for many yeeres
together, neither durst leave off the same, have now cast away my
cap, and doe Aveare none at all in the day time. And whereas
before time I cloathed myselfe with double cloaths and thick waist-
coates to keep me warme, even in the summer time, I doe now goe
as thin clad as any, onley wearing a light stuffe cassocke upon my
shirt, and stuffe breeches of one thickness without linings. Besides,
I have one of my children that was formerly most lamentably
handled with sore breaking out of both his hands and feet of the
king's evill, but since he came hither hee is very well ever he was,
and there is hope of perfect recoverie shortly even by the very
wholesoranesse of the aire, altering, digesting, and drying up the
cold and crude humours of the body. And therefore I think it is a
wise course for al cold complections to come to take physick in New
England, for a sup of New England's aire is better than a whole
draught of Old England's ale.
In the summer time, in the midst of July and August, it is a good
deale hotter than in Old England ; and in winter, January and Feb-
ruary are much colder, as they say. But the spring and autumne
are of a middle temper.
Fowles of the aire are plentiful! hero, and of all sorts as we have
in England as farre as I . can learn, and a great many of strange
fowles which wc know not. Whilst I was writing these things one
o our men brouerht home an eagle which hee had killed in the wood.
They say they are good meate. Also, here are many kinds of excel-
20(5 APPE^-DIX.
en t hawkes, both sea hawkes and land hawkes. And myself walking
in the woods with another in company sprung a partridge so bigge that
through the heaviness of his body could fly but a little way. They
that have killed them say they are as bigge as our hens. Here are
likewise aboundance of turkies often killed in the woods, farre greater
than our English turkies, and exceeding fat, sweet, and fleshy, for here
they have aboundance of feeding all the yeere long, as strawberries ;
in summer al places are full of them, and all manner of berries and
fruits. In the winter time I have scene flockes of pidgeons, and have
eaten of them. They doe fly from tree to tree as other birds doe,
which our pidgeons will not doe in England. They are of all colours
as ours are, but their wings and tayles are far larger, and therefore
it is likely they fly swifter to escape the terrible hawkes in this coun-
trey. In winter time this country doth abound with wild geese,
wild ducks, and other sea fowle, that a great part of winter the plant-
ers have eaten nothing but roast meate of divers fowles which they
have killed.
Thus you have heard of the earth, water, and aire of New Eng-
land ; now it may bee you expect something to bee said of the fire
proportionable to the rest of the elements. Indeede, I thinke New
England may boast of this element more than all the rest. For
though it bee here somewhat cold in the winter, yet here we have
plenty of fire to warm us, and that a great deal cheaper than they
sel billets and faggots in London. Nay, all Europe is not able to
afibrd to make so great fires as New England. A poore servant
here that is to possesse but 50 acres of land, may afford to give
more wood for timber and fire, as good as the world yeelds, than
many noblemen in England can afford to do. Here is good living
for those that love good fires. And although New England have no
tallow to make candles of, yet by the aboundance of the fish thereof
it can afibrd oil for lampes. Yea, our pine trees, that are the most
plentifull of all wood, doth allow us plenty of candles, which are very
usefull in a house. And they are such candles as the Indians com-
monly use, having no other, and they are nothing else but the
wood of the pine tree cloven in two little slices, something thin,
which are so full of the moysture of turpentine and pitch that they
burn as cleere as a torch. I have sent you some of them that you
may see the experience of them.
Thus of New England's commodities ; now I will tell you of some
discommodities that are here to be found.
APPENDIX. 207
First, in the summer season for these three months, June, July,
and August, we are troubled much -with little flyes, called muske-
toes, being the same they are troubled with in Lincolneshire and the
Fens ; and they are nothing but gnats, which except they bee
smoked out of their houses are troublesome in the night season.
Secondly, in the winter season for two months space, the earth is
commonly covered with snow, which is accompanied with sharp
biting frosts, something more sharpe than is in Old England, and
therefore are forced to make great fires.
Thirdly, the countrey being very full of woods and wildernesses,
doth also much abound with snakes and serpents of strange colours
and huge greatnesse ; yea, there are some serpents, called rattle-
snakes, that have rattles in their tails, that will not fly from a man
as others will, but will flye upon him, and sting him so mortally that
hee will dye within a quarter of an' houre after, except the partie
stinged have about him some of the root of an herbe called snake-
weed to bite on, and then hee shall receive no harme ; but yet seldom
falles it out that any hurt is done by these. About three years
since an Indian was stung to death by one of them, but we heard of
none since that time.
Fourthly, and lastly, here wants, as it were, good company of
honest Christians to bring with them horses, kine, and sheepe, to
make use of this fruitfull land ; great pitty it is to see so much good
ground for corne and for grasse as any under the heavens, to ly
altogether unoccupied when so many honest men and their families
in Old England, through the populousnesse thereof, do make very
hard shift to live one by the other.
Now, thus you know what New England is, as also with the com-
modities and discommodities thereof. Now I will shew you a little
of the inhabitants thereof and their government.
For their governors they have kings, which they call Saggamores,
some greater, and some lesser, according to the number of their sub-
jects. The greatest Saggamores about us can not make above three
hundred men, and other lesse Saggamores have not above fifteen
subjects, and others neere about us but two.
Their subjects above twelve years since were swept away by a
great and grievous plague that was amongst them, so that there are
verie few left to inhabitc the country.
The Indians are not able to make use of the one-fourth part of
^08 APl'EiSDIX.
the land, neither have they any settled places, as townes, to dwell
in, nor any ground as they challenge for their own possession, but
change their habitation from place to place.
Por their statures, they are a tall and strong limmed people, their
colours are tawney, they goe naked, save onley they are in part
covered with beasts' skins on one of their shouleers, and weare some-
thing before ; their huire is generally blacke, and cut before like
gentle-women, and one locke longer than the rest, much like to our
gentel-men, which fashion I think came from hence^into England.
For their weapons they have bowes and arrowes, some of them
headed with bone, and some of them with brasse. I have sent you
some of them for an example.
The men for the most part live idley ; they do nothing but hunt and
fish. Their wives set their come and doe all their other worke.
They have little houshold stuffe, as a kettle, and some other vessels
like trayes, spoones, dishes, and baskets.
Their houses are verie little and homely, being made with small
poles pricked into the ground, and so bended and fastened at the
tops, and on the sides they are matted with boughs and covered on
the roof with sedge and old mats ; and for their beds that they take
their rest on, they have a mat.
They doe generally professe to like well of our coming and plant-
ing here ; partly because there is abundance of ground that they
cannot possesse nor make use of, and partly because our being here
will bee a meanes both of relief to them when they want, and also
a defence from their enemies, wherewith (I say) before this plan-
tation began they were often indangered.
For their religion they do worship two Gods, a good God and an
evil God. The good God they call Tantum, and their evil God,
whom they fear will doe them hurt, they call Squantum.
For their deaHng with us, we neither fear them nor trust them,
for fourtie of our masketeeres will drive five hundred of them out
of the field. We use them kindly ; they will come into our houses
sometimes by half a dozen or half a score at a time when we are at
victuals, but will ask or take nothing but what we give them.
We purpose to learn their language as soon as we can, which will
be a means to do them good.
\PPENDIX. 209
Of the Present Condition of the Plantation, and what it is.
When we came first to Nehum-kek we found about half a score
houses, and a faire house newly built for the Governor ; we found also
aboundance of come planted by them, very good and well liking.
And we brought with us about two hundred passengers and planters
more, which by common consent of the old planters were all com-
bined together into one body politicke, under the same Governour.
There are in all of us, both old and new planters, about three
hundred, whereof two hundred of them are settled at Nehum-kek,
now called Salem. And the rest have planted themselves at Masa^
thulets Bay, beginning to build a towne there which wee do call
Cherton, or Charles Town.
We that are settled at Salem make what haste we can to build
houses, so that within a short time we shall have a faire towne.
We have great ordnance, wherewith we doubt not but we shall
fortifie ourselves in a short time to keep out a potent adversary.
But that which is our greatest comfort, and meanes of defence above
all other, is, that we have here the true religion and holy ordinances
of Almighty God taught amongst us. Thankes be to God, wee have
here plenty of preaching, and diligent catechizing, with strict and
carefull exercise, and good and commendable orders to bring our
people into a Christian conversation with whom we have to doe with-
all. And thus we doubt not but God will be with us, and if Qod
he with us, who can be against us ?
A Letter sent from Neio England hy Master G-raves, Engynere,
now there resident.
Thus much I can affirm e in generall, that I never came in a more
goodly country in all my life, all things considered. If it hath not
at any time been manured and husbanded, yet it is very beautifuU in
open lands mixed with goodly woods, and again open plains, in some
places five hundred acres, some places more, some lesse ; not much
troublesome for to clear for the plough to goe in, no place barren,
but on the tops of the hills the grasse and weeds grow up to a man's
face ; in the lowlands and by fresh rivers aboundance of grasse and
14
210 APPENDIX.
large meddo^vs, without any tree or shrub to hinder the sith. I
never saw, except in Hungaria, unto which I always paralell this
countrie, in all our most respects, for every thing that is heare
eyther sowne or planted prospereth far better than in Old England.
The increase of corne is here farre beyond expectation, as .1 have
seene here by experience in barly, the which because it is so much
above your conception I will not mention. And cattle doe prosper
very well, and those that are bredd here farr greater than those
with you in England. Vines doe grow here plentifully laden with
the biggest grapes that ever I saw, some I have seen foure inches
about, so that I am bold to say of this countrie, as it is commonly
said in Germany of Hungaria, that for cattel, corne, and wine, it
excelleth. We have many more hopefull commodities here in this
country, the which time will teach to make good use of. In the
mean time we abound with such things which next under God doe
make us subsist — as fish, fowle, deere, and sundrie sorts of fruits,
as musk-millions, water-millions, Indian pompions, Indian pease,
beanes, and many other odde fruits that I cannot name — all which
are made good and pleasant through this maine blessing of God, the
healthfulnesse of the countrie which far exceedeth all parts that
ever I have been in. It is observed that few or none doe here fall
sicke, unless of the scurvy, that they bring from aboard the shin
with them, whereof I have cured some of my companie on
labour.
APPENDIX. 211
FORMATION OF THE CHEROKEE ALPHABET.
The invention of the Cherokee alphabet is one of the most
remarkable events in the history of the aborigines. The best
account we have seen of it is by Samuel L. Knapp, •who was
acquainted with its author. The English name of the celebrated
Indian was George Guess. He is said to have been a half-breed,
but whether he was so or not he never associated with the whites,
or spoke any language but that of the Cherokees. Prompted by
his own curiosity and urged by several friends, Mr. Knapp applied
to Seequayah through the medium of two interpreters, one a half
blood, Capt. Rodgers, and the other a full-blood chief, whose assumed
English name was John Maw, to relate to him, as minutely as possi.
ble, the mental operations and all the facts in his discovery. He
cherfully complied with the request, and gave very deliberate and
satisfactory answers to every, question, and was at the same time
careful to know from the interpreters if Mr. Knapp distinctly under,
stood his answers. No Stoic could have been more grave in his
demeanor than was Seequayah. He pondered, according to the
Indian custom, for a considerable time after each question before he
made his reply, and often took a whiff of his calumet while reflecting
on his answer. The substance of his communications to Mr. Knapp
was as follows. That he, Seequayah, was now about sixty-five years
old, that in early life he was gay and talkative, and although he
never attempted to speak in council but once, yet was often, from the
strength of his memory, his easy colloquial powers, and ready com-
mand of his vernacular, story-teller of the convivial party. His
reputation for talents of every kind gave him some distinction when
he was quite young. In the St. Clair defeat, or some one that soon
followed it, a letter was found on the person of the prisoner, which
was wrongly read by him to the Indians. In some of their dehb ora-
tions on this subject, the question arose among them whether this
mysterious power of the talking leaf^ as the printed page was called,
was the gift of the Great Spirit to the white man, or a discovery of
the white man himself. Most of his companions were of the former
212 APPENDIX.
opinion, while he as strenuously maintained the latter. This frc
quently became a subject of contemplation with him afterwards, as
well as many other things which he knew, or had heard that the
white man could do, but he never sat down seriously to reflect on
the subject until a swelling on his knee confined him to his cabin,
and which at length made him a cripple for life by shortening the
diseased leg.
Deprived of the excitements of war, and the pleasures of the
chase, in the long nights of his confinement, his mind was again
directed to the mystery of the power of speaking hy letters, the
very name of which of course was not to be found in his language.
From the cries of wild beasts, from the talents of the mocking-
bird, from the voices of his children and his companions, he knew
that feelings and passions were conveyed by diSerent sounds from
one intelligent being to another. The thought struck him to try to
ascertain all the sounds in the Cherokee language. His own ear
was not remarkably discriminating, and he called to his aid the more
acute ears of his wife and children. He found great assistance
from them. When he thought he had distinguished all the difierent
sounds in their language he attempted 'to use pictorial signs, images
of birds and beasts, to convey these sounds to others, or to mark
them in his own mind.
He soon dropped this method, as difficult or impossible, and tried
arbitrary signs, without any regard to appearances, except such as
might assist them in recollecting them, and distinguishing them from
each other. At first these signs were very numerous, and when he
got so far as to think his invention nearly accomplished, he had
about two hundred characters in his alphabet. By the aid of his
daughter, who seems to have entered into the genius of his labor,
he reduced them to eighty-six, the number he now used. He then
undertook to make these characters more comely to the eye, and
succeeded. As yet he had not the knowledge of the pen as an
instrument, but made his characters on a piece of bark with a knife
or nail. At this time he sent to the Indian Agent, or some trader
in the nation, for paper and pen. His ink was easily made from
some of the bark of the forest trees whose coloring properties he
had previously known, and after seeing the construction of the pen
he soon learned to make one, but at first he made it without a slit ;
this inconvenience was however quickly removed by his sagacity.
APPENDIX. 213
His next difficulty was to make his invention kno-^-n to his country-
men, for by this time he had become so abstracted from his tribe and
their usual pursuits, that he -was viewed with an eye of suspicion.
His former companions passed his wigwams without entering, and
mentioned his name as one who was practising improper spells, for
notoriety or mischievous purposes, and he seemed to think he should
have been hardly dealt with if his docile and unamiable disposition
had not been so generally acknowledged by his tribe. At length he
summoned some of the most distinguished of his nation, in order to
make his communication to them ; and after giving the best ex-
planation of his principle that he could, stripping it of all super-
natural influence, he proceeded to demonstrate in good earnest
that he had made a discovery. His daughter, who was now
his only pupil, was ordered to go out of hearing while he re-
quested his friends to name a word or sentiment, which he put
down, and then she was called in and read it to them ; then the
father retired and the daughter wrote. The Indians were wonder-
struck, but not entirely satisfied. Seequayah then proposed that the
tribe should select several youths from among their cleverest young
men, that he might communicate the mystery to them. This was at
once agreed to, although there were some lurking suspicions of
necromancy in the whole business. John Maw, among others, was
selected for this purpose. The tribe watched them for several
months with anxiety, and when they offered themselves for examina-
tion the feelings of all were wrought up to the highest pitch. The
youths were separated from each other and from their master, and
watched with the greatest care. The uninitiated directed what the
master and pupils should write to each other, and these tests were
varied in such a manner as not only to destroy their infidelity, but
most firmly to fix their faith. The Indians on this ordered a great
feast and made Seequayah conspicuous at it. How nearly alike
is man in every age. Pythagoras did the same on discovering an
important principle in Geometry. Seequayah became at once
schoolmaster, professor, philosopher, and chief. His countrymen
were proud?of his talents, and held him in reverence as one favored
by the Great Spirit. The inventions of early time were shrouded in
mystery. Seequahyah disdained all deception. He did not stop
here, but carried his discovery to numbers. He of cotirse knew
nothing of Arabic digits, nor of Roman letters in the science. Tho
214
APPENDIX.
Cherokees had mental numerals to one hundred, and had words
for all numbers up to that, but they had no signs or characters to
assist them in enumerating, adding, subtracting, multiplying, or
dividing. He reflected upon this until he had created their elemen.
tary principle in his mind, but he was at first obliged to make words
to express his meaning, and then signs to ■ explain it. By this
process he soon had a clear conception of numbers up to a million.
His great difficulty at the beginning was to fix the power of his
signs according to their places. When this was overcome his next
step was in adding up his dificrent numbers, in order to put
down the fraction of the decimal and give the whole number to his
next place. He adhered to all the customs of his country, and
when his associate chiefs assumed the dress of the English he was
clothed like an Indian in all respects. He was a man of varied
abilities, and he passed from metaphysical and philosophical investi-
gation to that of mechanics with the greatest ease.
The only practical mechanics he was acquainted with were a few
blacksmiths who could make rough tomahawks, or repair the lock of
a rifle, yet he became a white and silversmith without any instruc-
tion, and made spurs and silver spoons with neatness and skill, to the
great admiration of the people of the Cherokee nation. Seequa"
yah had also a great taste for painting. He mixed his colors with
skill, acquaintmg himself with all the art and science of his tribe
upon the subject ; he added many experiments of his own, some of
which were very successful. For his drawings he had no models
but such as nature furnished, and he often copied nature with aston-
ishing faithfulness. His portraits were coarse, but often spirited and
correct, and he gave action and sometimes grace to his representa^
tions of animals. He had never seen an artist's pencil, but he made
use of the hair of wild animals for his brushes. Some of his pro-
ductions evince a knowledge of perspective, but he could not have
formed rules for this. The manners of this Indian genius were most
easy, and his habits those of the most assiduous scholar. He under-
stood and felt the advantages the white man had long enjoyed, of
having the accumulations of every branch of knowledge by means
of a written language, while the red man could only commit his
thoughts to uncertain tradition. He reasoned correctly when he
urged this to his friends, as the cause why the red man had made so
APPENDIX. • 215
few advances in knowledge in comparison with us. To remedy this
was his great aim.
It may not, perhaps, be known that the Government of the United
States had a font of types cast for his alphabet, and that a news-
paper, printed partly in the Cherokee language and partly in the
English, was established in New Echota, which is characterized by
decency and good sense, and that thus many Indians learned to read
both languages. The head chief of the Cherokees confirmed the
statements in relation to Seequayah, and added that he was an
Indian of the strictest veracity and sobriety. This wild son of the
forest has arisen to prove that men have not degenerated since prim-
itive days and the romantic ages of wonderful effort and renown.
216 APPENDIX,
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE CUSTOMS AND MANNER
OF LIVING IN THE DAYS OF OUR
FOREFATHERS.
It may be interesting to the people of the town to know the simple
manners and modes of life of those from whom they have descended,
especially as a great change has taken place in these respects in the
last half century. Nor is it considered inapplicable to this work.
Some parts of the following account are taken from the Rev. H.
White's Early History of New England, and by him from the Old
Colony Memorial, all to be found in the library of the Massachu
setts Genealogical Society, to which, by the kindness of one of its,
members, the author has had admission during the preparation of
his work.
1. MANNER OF DRESS.
In general, men, old or young, had a decent coat, vest, and small
clothes, and some kind of fur hat. Old men had a great coat, and
a pair of boots ; the boots were substantially made of good leather,
and lasted for life ; they were long and reached to the knee.
For every day they had a jacket reaching about half way down
the thigh, striped vest, and the small clothes, like the jacket, made of
homespun flannel cloth, fulled at the mill, but not sheared ; flannel
shirts, and knit woollen stockings, Avith leather shoes and a silk
handkerchief for holidays. In the summer they wore a pair of wide
petticoat trousers, reaching half way from the knee to the ankles.
Shoes and stockings were not worn in summer when at work on the
farm. Boys, as soon as they left their petticoats, were put into
small clothes, summer or winter. These were made of home manu-
factured cloth for common, and everlasting for meeting dress. The
oldest son had a pair of the latter cloth, and when he had outgrown
them the next took them, and so down to the tenth son, if there
were so many in the family. •
APPENDIX. 217
This manner of dress continued till long trousers were introduced,
which were called tongs, and did not differ much in shape from those
now in use. Thej were made of tow cloth, linen and cotton, in the
summer, and in the winter, flannel, and were soon worn by old men
as well as by young men and boys. Young men never wore great
coats. I recollect, says a writer of those times, a neighbor of my
father's who had four sons between nineteen and thirty year of age :
the oldest got a pair of boots, the second a surtout, the third a
watch, and the fourth a pair of silver shoe-buckles. This made a
neighborhood talk, and the family were supposed to be on the high
road to insolvency.
The women, old and young, wore home-made flannel gowns in
winter, and in the summer wrappers or shepherddresses, which were
made without waists, and gathered around the neck.
They were usually contented with one calico gown, but generally
had a calimanco or camlet, and some had them made of poplin ; the
sleeves were short and came only to the elbow ; on holidays they
wore one, two, or three rufiles on each arm, sometimes ten inches
wide.
They wore long gloves, coming up to the elbow, secured by what
was called tightens, made of black horsehair ; round gowns had
not come in fashion, so they wore aprons made of checked linen,
cotton, and, for Sunday, white cotton, long lawn, or cambric. They
seldom wore caps, only when they appeared in full dress ; they had
two kinds — one was called strap cap, which was tied under the
chin, and the other round corn cap, which did not come over the ears.
They wore thick and thin leather and broadcloth shoes, with wooden
heels covered with cloth or leather an inch and a half high, with
peaked toes, which turned up. They generally had very small
mufis, and some wore masks.
In those days the young women did not consider it a hardship
nor a disgrace to walk five or six miles to meeting on the Sabbath,
or on lecture days ; in the country towns, scarcely a chaise or any
other vehicle was used. The common conveyance was by horses
fitted out with saddles and pillions. A man and woman rode together
on the same horse, and sometimes a little boy rode before the man,
and an infant in the lap of the woman. No inconsiderable journeys
were made in this way
Horses, then, were made to pace, that they might carry their riders
218 APPENDIX.
more gently. It was not until a little while before the revolutionary
war that they learned to trot. A horse that would sell for thirty
dollars was considered of the first quality, and one more than nine
years old was considered of little value.
In those days everybody went to meeting on the Sabbath and
lecture days, however distant they lived. Those who owned horses
did not consider them anv more their own than their neighbors', on
that day. It was the custom in many, if not in all cpuntry towns,
for the owner with his wife to ride half way to a horse block, made
for that purpose, and there hitch his horse and walk on, for his
neighbor to ride who set out on foot ; and so when they returned.
THEIR MANNER OF LIVING.
Their dinners in the winter season were generally the same. First
they had a dish of broth, called porridge, with a, few beans in it,
and a little summer savory, then an Indian pudding with sauce, and
then a dish of boiled pork and beef, with round turnips and a few
potatoes. Potatoes were then a scarce article ; three or four bushels
were considered a large crop, and these not larger than a hen's egg.
Their supper and breakfast were generally the same ; those who had
milk, ate it with toasted bread ; if not, sweetened cider with bread
and cheese. Sabbath mornings they generally had chocolate or
bohea tea, the first sweetened with molasses, the last with brown
sugar, and with them pancakes, doughnuts, brown toast, or some
sort of pie. They had no dinners till after meeting, when they had
a roast goose, or turkey, spare rib, or a stew pie, in the spring
and summer. They generally ate bread and milk for supper and
breakfast.
At that time no family had a barrel of flour. The farmers broke
up a piece of new ground and planted it with wheat and turnips.
This wheat, by the help of the sieve, was their flour. A writer of
years gone by, says " the chiefest corn they planted was Indian
grain before they had ploughs ; and let no men make a gest at
pumpkins, for with this food the Lord was pleased to feed his people?
to their good content, till corn and cattle were increased."
Their corn, before they had built mills to grind it, was pounde
with a wooden or stone pestle in a mortar made of a large log hoi"
APPENDIX. 219
lowed out at one end. They cultivated barley, much of which was
made into malt for beer, which they drank instead of ardent spirit.
They raised flax, which they rotted in water, and then manufactured
it in their families into thread and cloth.
The first houses which they built were very coarse, rude struc-
tures. They had steep roofs, covered with thatch or small bundles
of sedge or straw laid one over another. The fire-places were made
of rough stones, and the chimneys of boards, or short sticks crossing
each other and plastered inside with clay. In a few years houses of
a better construction began to appear. They were built with two
stories in front, and sloped down to a low one in the rear ; the win-
dovrs opened outward on hinges, and were small. The glass was
small and in the shape of a diamond, and set in sashes of lead.
The fire-places were hugely large, and could I'eceive a four foot
log beside seating the family of children in the corners, Avhere they
could look up and count the stars. They were uniformly placed so
as to front the south, on whatever side of the road they might be,
and the object was that when the sun shone on it the house might
serve as a sun-dial.
It is said to have been a custom of the first settlers to wear their
beards so long that in the winter it would sometimes freeze together,
so that it was difficult to get the vessels in which they took their
drink to their mouths.
The common address of meti and women was good-man and good-
wife. None but those who sustained some office of dignity, or
belonged to some respectable family, were complimented as master
or mistress. In writing they did not use the capital F but two small
ones as fF.
THE MANNER IN WHICH SOME OF THEIR PUBLIC
OFFICERS WERE ELECTED.
By an order of the Massachusetts General Court corn and beans
were required to be used in voting for counsellors, the corn to man-
ifest elections, the beans the contrary, on the choice or refusal of a
candidate. The law imposed a heavy penalty if more than one corn
or bean was used by one person.
The mode of living and manner of dress were much more favora-
220 APPENDIX.
ble to health than at the present time. Acute fevers were frequent,
the principal of which were called the long or slow fevers, -which
run thirty, forty.; and sometimes fifty days before it formed a crisis,
and the slow nervous fever, which run generally longer than the
former. Pulmonary complaints or consumptions were much less
frequent than now ; indeed, a young person was rarely visited with
this disease.
The duty of the sexton of the church was not only to ring
the bell, and sweep the house, &c., but keep the hour glass,
and turn it at the commencement of the minister's sermons, who
was expected to close at the end of the hour. If he went on, or fell
short of the time, it was a sufl&cient cause of complaint.
APPEiNDIX. 221
ACCIDENTS.
On the 9th of May, 1814, Mr. Daniel Travis and Mr. Henry
Coggin were instantly killed by the fall of the dwelling house of the
former, which stood on the site of the present residence of Deacon
John Travis.
The particulars of this sad event, as taken from the lips of a living
witness (Rev. Isaac Jennison), were briefly these :
Travis's house was undergoing repairs and enlargement. A new
cellar had been dug and stoned ; the underpinning, which was of
brick, removed ; the sills taken out, when it was thought best to
raise it fourteen inches. Accordingly a new front sill was attached
to the front posts by chain twists, and another placed beneath the
rear posts. The front was raised by screws, the back by levers.
It was deemed unstable, and orders were given that if a crash was
heard not to flee from beneath it into the new cellar. At the time of
the fall, William Ilorton and John Jennings were outside, while Jenni-
son, John Dunton, Travis, and Coggin were beneath.
Travis and Coggin ran out into the new cellar and were instantly
crushed beneath the falling mass.
Their interment took place May 11th, under Masonic orders, by
the Middlesex Lodge, located at Framingham. A procession of
citizens was formed at the old tavern on Worcester turnpike, and
moved to the centre meeting-house, where a funeral discourse was
delivered by Rev. Charles Train, minister of the Baptist church at
Framingham, a printed copy of which is before me.
DEATH OF MR. NATHAN STONE.
July 1st, 1793, Mr. Nathan Stone was killed by a fiilling lever,
with which he was excavating stones, for the bridge near the resi-
dence of Edward Hammond, three rods south of Central turnpike,
so called. The accident took place in Framingham, but the
222 ^\PP£NDIX.
deceased was an inhabitant of Natick. The following is the iRScription
on his tomb-stone, in the West Cemetery :
" By a sudden stroke, when void of fear,
Before my God I must appear ;
Behold, my friends, with care attend,
Consider life and know its end."
MR. SAMUEL COGGIN,
While driving his team, in Watertown, Oct. 14th, 1831, fell from
his wagon and was crushed beneath the wheel.
In 1770, Joseph Drury was killed by the fall of a house which he
had erected for a temporary abode while burning coal.
BENJAMIN WARD,
A brotlier of the Artemas who was drowned, as stated in this work
under that head, was killed by an unruly yoke of oxen, October,
1789.
DEATH OF MR. JOHNS. ROSS.
In February, 1844, while Mr. John S. Ross was engaged in dig-
ging stones in the south part of the town, he was suddenly killed by
the fall of the lever with which he was at work. He was struck in
the back part of the head and survived but a few hours.
HANNAH FISK.
In 1796, an accident of a most distressing character occurred at
the house of Joshua Fisk, now that of the heirs of Moses Fisk.
Hannah Fish, four years old, was shot by her brother, a few years
in advance of her in age. John (the name of the brother who com-
mitted the act) had been out with a still older brother in hunting
excursions, and at this time levelled the gun, which happened to be
loaded, at his infant sister, remarking that " he would kill a wild
APPENDIX. 228
goose." The contents of the gun were lodged in the side of the
girl, who fell instantly over the warping bars, in the northeast cham-
ber of the house. The stains of the blood on the floor were not many
years since plainly to be seen.
MAHLON DAVIS,
June 17th, 1851, attempting to cross the railroad at Spring
street, was killed by a train of cars, which passed over his body.
Inscribed on his tomb-stone, in Dell Park Cemetery, we find the fol-
lowing :
It was not thine with Avife and cliilclren dear,
To breathe thy last upon a peaceful bed ;
lu manhood's strength one moment thou wast here,
The next struck down and numbered with the dead.
Oh ! may thy sudden summons warn us all
To be prepared for oiir own final call.
224 AlTEiS'DIX.
DEATHS BY DROWNING.
The first death by drowning in Natick, of which we have any ac-
count, was that of iVrtemas Ward, who Hved in the house now owned
and occupied by Eleazer G. Wight. It was the middle of the winter
of 1815, and Ward was returning from his work, across the ice on
Lake Cochituate, and had arrived to within a few rods of that part of
the shore now known as " Checkerberry Point," when the ice sud-
denly gave way beneath him. His cries were distinctly heard, but
mistaken for other sounds. His remains were not found until the
next day.
In 1818, Samuel Perry, son of Abel, was drowned in Charles
River. It was the night of 'the 6th of May, and Perry was crossing
the river on the bridge known as Loring's, a few rods back of Samuel
Walcott's shoe manufactory. The night was intensely dark, and a
thunder shower — long after remembered for its fierceness — was
raging. It is supposed that he accidentally stepped from the planks
of the bridge, which was then without railings. The following
acrostic, written by William Bigelow, who has before been noticed,
gives the particulars of the accident :
S ad was the gloom, tlie rain in torrents poured,
A nd lightning flashed, and muttering thunder roared ;
M urky convolving clouds heaven's arch o'erspread,
U nusual horror stalked, and filled with dread
E ven atheists' hearts. At that tremendous hour
L urked round the assasin Death, with ruthless power ;
P erry was seized, his unsuspecting prey —
E nclosed in icy arms and borne away.
E, uddy the morn her usual blushes spread,
E, adiant the sun its beam refulgent shed,
Y et not to him enrolled among the dead.
In March of the year 1818, Samuel Washburn, while returning
to bis home, from an auction at what was called the "Haynes
APPENDIX. 225
Tavern," fell from the bank of the pond into the water, a short dis-
tance to the left of the bridge since built by the city of Boston, west
of " the Willows," so called, and was instantly drowned, never rising
to the surface.
In 1825, Elijah Washburn, son of Samuel Washburn, noticed
above, met the same death his father had found a few years previous.
His house stood on the east shore of Lake Cochituate, in front of the
house of Faithee Coggin. He went out in the evening, and his body
was found the next day.
Josiah C. Bacon, a son of David and Sally Bacon, while picking
strawberries in 1838, near Dug Pond, entered a boat with his
younger brother and attempted to cross the pond. When within a
few feet of the shore, he leaped from the boat, but fell in water beyond
his depth, and Avas drowned. He was ten years of age, noted for
his amiability and precocity.
On the loth June, 1844, Nathaniel W. Littlefield was the victim
of an accident of the same description, in the same pond.
While bathing with his companions, he suddenly sunk in water too
deep for wading, and, being unable to swim, was drowned before
assistance could be obtained.
Dexter Sawin, a son of Phares, was drowned in Charles River,
Feb. 4, 1819. Aged 11 years.
The following is inscribed upon his monument; :
"The body, th-ownecl beneath the wave,
Was hui-ried to the insatiate grave ;
The soul, pure spark of heavenly flame,
Returned to God from whom it came."
15
226 APPENDIX.
SUICIDES.
But tliree instances of suicide are known as ever having taken
place in town.
George W. Titus, in tlie fall of 1838, shot himself, in a building
adjoining his house. He was an intemperate man, and the cause
of the commission of the deed was supposed to be partial insanity
brought on bj using too much liquor.
In the summer of 1853, Samuel Bigford shot himself in his house.
He was also addicted to the habit of intemperance.
Mrs. Louisa Reed, was found suspended in an out-building of her
mother's residence, in June of 1854. She was undoubtedly insane.
The following persons have, at different times, been found in fields,
or on roads, dead : Dr. William Patterson, Jenny Payer, Bulah
Ward, Purley Howe, William Muzzey, Jonas Loker, Josiah Drury.
APPENDIX. 227
FIRES.
In 1805 the house of Levi Sawiu, which stood -where Charles
Perry now hves, was destroyed by fire.
The next fire was in 1810. The house stood on the south side of
Charles River, above the village, and was owned by a woman named
Hannah Dexter, who was burned to death in the flames.
It is said that the house which stood where the large square house
just vacated by Hon. John Wells now stands was burned ; but from
that time, for thirty years, no fire occurred in town. In December,
1843, the brick house on Central street, owned by Richard Hayes,
was consumed by fire.
In August, 1843, a carpenter's shop, owned by Stephen Boulter,
was set on fire and demolished.
On the 15th of September, 1846, the barn of Jedediah Washburn,
with the contents, including a valuable horse, was burned.
On the 19th of April, 1845, the dwelling house, shop and barn of
Amory Morse in " Little South," with their contents, were con-
sumed by fire. — Loss estimated at $8000.
On the 4th of December, 1854, a fire was discovered in Walcott
Block. It was finally subdued, but not until it had nearly consumed
a large portion of the central part of the building. — Damage esti-
mated at $5000.
In July, 1854, the house of Mr. Townsend, on Central street, was
consumed ; and in the same month of 1855 the block owned by
Horace T. Hildreth, was seriously damaged by fire.
228
ArPENDlX.
MURDERS.
Until 1847 we liear of no murder taking place in town ; since that
time four persons have fallen victims to the knife of the assassin. It
is difficult to account for this fact ; — it is useless to ascribe it to any
general depravation in morals, or any unusual disregard of the
sanctities of religion, for we see from all sources that nothing of this
kind has taken place.
A perusal of the past pages of this volume will, we think, prove
to all that there never has been so general a regard for each other's
rights of person and property as during the last thirty years. We
must then attribute it to providential and accidental circumstances,
that four persons, three of them foreigners, and not residents of the
town, should, within five years, be guilty of the crime of murder.
On the 1st of" April, 1848, Mr. Josiah Childs, for a long time
resident in town, was found about half way between his own house
and Felchville, insensible, with his head badly bruised. He was
taken to his home and survived a few days, but died of the wounds
he had received. He was with his team, returning from Cochituate,
to which place he had moved the goods of two Irishmen, brothers of
the name of Riley. It was supposed that he was followed by them
in returning, and murdered for his money, a large amount of which
he had in his possession at the time. They were accordingly
arrested, but acquitted at the final trial, on account of deficiency of
evidence.
On the night of September 17, 1852, the second and most dread-
ful of the tragedies occurred.
Orra Taylor and wife, with three children, lived in the " Little
South Village," so called. On the morning of the night alluded to,
the oldest two of the children went to the house of the nearest
neighbor, in their night dresses, and said their father and mother had
been murdered. On entering the house, Mr. Taylor, a man about
thirty years of age, was found lying dead, with five or six ghastly
wounds upon his head and other parts of his person, inflicted with an
APPENDIX. 229
axe, Avliicli -was afterwards found in one of the apartments; Mrs.
Taylor was found in an adjoining room, still alive, with her head
almost cloven asunder, and an infant lying at her feet bathed in
blood. Thomas Casey, an Irishman about nineteen years of age,
who worked for Mr. Taylor, was suspected of the murder. He had
fled, but was found the next day in the woods in Framingham. He
was tried in Cambridge, found guilty of the murder, and executed.
At one o'clock Sunday morning, July, 1854, James Warren, a
resident of Natick, was stabbed in the Long Pond Hotel. It appears
that several persons were engaged in drinking and gambling, when
an altercation arose between Mr. Hilliard, the keeper of the house,
and Warren, during which the latter struck the former on the face,
whereupon Hilliard, drawing a dirk knife and following him into an-
other room, gave him two severe stabs, one in the abdomen, the other
in the right breast. Warren died in great agony about nine o'clock
Sunday morning.
Hilliard is now in prison, awaiting his trial.
230 APPENDIX.
ANECDOTES.
The following anecdotes relating to events in Natick are published
on authority of tradition :
While Eliot was engaged in translating the Bible into the Indian
language, he came to the following passage in Judges 5 : 28 : " The
mother of Sisera looked out at the window^ and cried through the
lattice," &c. Not knowing an Indian word to signify lattice, he
applied to several of the natives, and endeavored to describe to them
what a lattice resembled. He described it as framework, netting,
wicker, or whatever occurred to him as illustrative, when they gave
him a long, barbarous and unpronounceable word, as are most of the
words in that language. Some years afterwards wdien he had learned
their dialect more correctly, he is said to have laughed outright
upon finding that the Indians had given him the true term for eel-jjot,
" The mother of Sisera looked out at the window, and cried through
the eel-poty
One of these sons of the forest is said to have discovered a more
appropriate emblem of the Trinity than even the triangle itself.
The missionary had been lecturing on the sublime and incomprehen-
sible mystery, when one of his red auditors, after a long and thought-
ful pause, thus addressed him: ''■ I believe, Mr. Minister, I under-
stand you. The Trinity is just like water and ice and snow ; the
water is one, the ice is another, and the snow is another, and yet
they are all three water."
The following is handed down as a true copy of a warrant issued
by an Indian magistrate :
" You, you big constable, quick you catch urn Jeremiah Oflfscow,
strong you hold um, safe you bring um afore me.
Thomas Waban, Justice Peace."
APPENDIX, 331
When Waban became superannuated, a younger magistrate was
appointed to succeed him. Cherishing that respect for age and long
experience, for ^Yhich the Indians are remarkable, the new officer
waited on the old one for advice. Having stated a variety of cases
and received satisfactory answers, he at length proposed the follow-
ing : — " When Indians get drunk, and quarrel and fight and act like
divvil, what you do den ? " " Hah ! tie um all up, and Avhip um
plaintiff, whip um 'fendant, and whip um witness." Query — Can a
more equitable rule be adopted on a like occasion by any nation ?
In the course of Mr. Peabody's ministry there was a long and
severe drought, which induced him to offer public prayers for rain.
Among others he used the following petition : " May the bottles of
Heaven be unstopped and a plentiful supply of rain be poured down
on the thirsty earth." It very soon began to rain, and continued for
many days in succession. Before it ceased an Indian met Mr. P.
and observed, " I believe them are bottles you talked of be un-
stopped, and the stopples be lost."
Wit and humor have not been confined to the red natives of the
place, but some of the whites come in for their share. One, being
warned to do military duty, requested the Captain to excuse him.
His officer told him that he might state his case to the company, and
if they would vote in the affirmative he should be excused.
He accordingly made the following address : — " Fellow soldiers, I
am rather hard of hearing, and don't always understand the word
of command ; besides, at the age of sixteen, I was drafted to go into
the army, but my father went in my room and was killed, and never
got home. Now, if I had gone myself and got killed, I should have
got clear of military duty to all etarnity.
He was excused by acclamation.
Rev. Mr. Badger was fond of wit and humor ; he could relish a
good-natured joke even at his own expense ; he had a trial of this
in the following manner : One Daniel Bacon, a horse doctor and
dealer in besoms and bean-poles, was invited by Mr. B. to visit his
horse, which appeared to be somewhat unwell. Bacon examined the
beast with close attention, and then gave it as his opinion that the
horse and the town of Natick were in a similar situation — both
232 APPENDIX.
needed a better pasture (pronounced pastor.') Another facetious
clergyman, knowing Bacon's character, had a mind to enter into con-
versation with him, and commenced by asking, " Of what profession
are you ? " "A farmer," says Bacon : " and what are you ?" "A
cannon of the Gospel " was the reply. " A cannon ! If you had
not told me, I should have thought you a blunderbuss,^^ was the
rejoinder.
Bacon took a journey to one of the towns in the vicinity of Boston
with a load of bean-poles for sale. Seeing a lawyer's office hard by,
he stepped in, pretending to want advice in a difficult case. The
squire telling him he could have it for a dollar. Bacon observed, " I
wish very much to know where I can get five dollars for my bean-poles,
and if you will tell me I will give you two of them."
APPENDIX. 233
OTHER " PRAYING TOWNS. "
Beside Natick, there were within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts
fourteen praying towns.
The following is a table of them, with the communicants in each
church, and the English name of the towns :
Pemkapaog
had 60 communicants
— present name
Stoughton.
Hassemamessit
" 60
((
present name
is Grafton.
Okommahainessit
" 50
u
it
" Marlborough.
Wamesit
" 75
((
it
" Tewksbiuy.
Nashobah
" 50
(>
a
" Littleton.
Maqunkaquog
«' 55
((
it
" Hopkinton.
Manchage
«' 60
ii
((
<' Oxford.
Chubauakonghomim
" 45
a
((
« Dudley.
Maaeexit
" 100
a
now N.
W.
part of Woodstock.*
Quantessit
" 100
(<
« S.
E.
tt
(( ((
Wabquissit
«« 150
<<
" S.
W.
(<
(1 It
Pachachoag
" 100
<(
present i
name is Brookfield.
Waentug
" 50
((
(1
it
" Uxbridge.
I have only space for allusion to two of these towns best known
to the present population of Natick, viz., Grafton and Hopkinton.
Grafton, (Hassemamessit.) — This name signifies a place of
small stones. It lies about thirty-eight miles from Boston, and two
miles cast from Blackstone river. We extract a description of it as
an Indian town: — ''It hath not above twelve families, and so,
according to our computation, sixty souls ; but is capable to receive
some hundreds, as generally the other villages arc, if it shall please
God to multiply them. The dimensions of tliis town are about four
miles square, and so about eight thousand acres of land. This vil-
lage is not inferior to any of the Indian plantations for rich land and
plenty of meadow, being well tempered and watered. It produceth
plenty of com, grain and fruit, for there are several good orchards
in this place. It is an apt place for keeping of cattle and swine, in
* Woodstock is now in Conn., but was formerly considered in Mass.-
234 ^ APPENDIX.
which respect their people are best stored of any Indian town of
their size. Their ruler's name is Anaweakin, a sober and discreet
man. Their teacher's name is Tackuppa-willin, his brother, a pious
and discreet man, and apt to teach."
" In this town was the second Indian Church gathered in the
summer of 1671. The pastor of the church is Tackuppa-willin,
the ruUng elder Piambow ; the deacon, father to the pastor. There
are in this town, and in full communion with the church, about six-
teen men and women, and about thirty baptized persons ; but there
are several others, members of this church, that live in other places."
HopKiNTON, "(Maqunkaquog,) is the seventh town where " pray-
ing Indians " inhabit. The signification of the name is a place of
great trees. It is situated partly within the bounds of Natick, and
partly upon the lands granted to the country. It lieth west-southerly
from Boston, about twenty-four miles nearly midway between Natick
and Hassemamessit. The number of their families is about eleven,
and about fifty-five souls. The quantity of land belonging to it is
about three thousand acres. The Indians plant upon a great hill,
which is very fertile. These people worship God and keep the
Sabbath, and observe civil order, as do other towns. They have a
constable and other officers. Their ruler's name is Pamphaman, a
sober and active man, and pious. Their teacher's name is Job, a
person well accepted for piety and abilities among them. This town
was the last settled of all the old Indian towns. They have plenty
of corn, and keep some horses, cattle, and swine, for which the place
is well accommodated."
APPENDIX. 235
PLANTS AND FLOWERS IN NATICK.
Although the vegetation of so small a territory as a township can-
not be expected to dififer materially from that immediately surround-
ing it, still, every locality, however small, presents to the practical
botanist its individual peculiarity.
The Flowering or Phsenogamous plants of Natick have been
studied with some care.
Upwards of 800 species were collected from Natick soil in three
years' time, by a single individual.
Others joined in the pursuit, and for several years a new indige-
nous or naturalized plant was a real trophy.
Since that time, the cultivation of the soil has destroyed several
of the rarer kinds.
The raising of the waters of Lake Cochituate has lessened tho
number of aquatics.
Naturalization has added several new ones, so that the whole num-
ber of species may not have been diminished.
The following list comprises only those which are rare in this
vicinity :
Arb\itus Ura Ursi. Bearberry.
Acttea Rubra; W. Red Baneberry.
Acttea Alba. White Baneberrj-.
Asclepias Tuberosa. Butterfly Weed.
Andromeda Polifolia, L. Swamp Pride.
Aralia Racemosa, L. Spikenard.
Alopecurus Pratensis, L. Fox-tail Grass.
Boehmeria Cylindrica, W. Ditch Nettle.
Corallorhiza Odontorhiza, Nutt. Coral Tooth.
Cornus Florida. False Boxwood.
Calla Virginica, Mich. Swamp Calla.
Circcca Lutetiana, L. Enchanter's Nightshade.
Drosera Filiformis, Nutt. Slender Sundew.
Epigaja Repens, L. Ground Laurel.
Equisetum Ilyemale, L. Scouring Rush.
Glechoraa Ilcderacea, L. Gill go over the ground.
Gentiaua Criuata, Froel. Fringed Gentian.
236
APPENDIX.
Iris Prismatica, Pursh.
Juglans Nigra.
Kalmia Glauca, L.
Ledum Latifolium.
Lycopus Virginicus.
Linnsea Borealis, W.
Liatris Scariosa, "W.
Mikania Scandens, W.
Malaxis Lilifolia, "W.
Orobanche Unifiora, L.
Pyrola Maculata, L.
Prunus Borealis, Piirsh.
Rhodora Canadensis, L.
Sagina Procumbens.
Triosteum Perfoliatum, L.
Ulmus Fulva, Mx.
Xyris Aquatica, ^lich.
Zizania Aquatica, Pursh.
Boston Iris.
Black Walnut.
Swamp Bane.
Labrador Tea.
Sweet Bugle.
Twinflower.
Kattlesnake Bush.
Climbing Eupatoria.
Tway Blade.
Squaw Root,
Spotted Pyrola.
Northern Cherry.
Swamp Beauty.
Pearlwort.
Fever Root.
Slippery Elm.
Yellow-eyed Grass.
Canada Rice.
APPENDIX. 237
EPITAPHS ON GRAVE-STONES.
We have collected many inscriptions on tomb-stones, in the town,
which we considered curious, but have space only for a few.
The present year the town voted that Capt. William Stone be a
committee to erect some suitable monument to the memory of Wil-
liam Boden, Esq.
Capt. Stone, before his death, fulfilled the duty, and a neat mar
ble shaft, resting on a pedestal of granite, now bears the following
inscriptions :
On the side facing the North, —
«WM. BODEN, ESQ.,
Died Sept. 22, 1807, •
Aged 72 years and 7 months."
The side opposite, —
"KEZIA BODEN,
Wife of Wm. Boden, Esq.,
Died June 27, 1809,
Aged 77 years, 10 months."
On the front is the following:
&'
"Erected by the Town of Natick, Aug., 18o5, in memory of Wm. Boden and
his wife. He was the first white Justice of the Peace who resided in town. He ^
was a patriot in the Revolution, served his country faithfully in the army, and at
home Avas a good citizen and neighbor. lie gave the town the land for this
cemetery, and also a site for a school-house. He owned a good farm, wliich he
bequeathed to an adopted son, who soon squandered it all away, not even erecting
a stone to mark the place of burial of his adopted friend and benefactor. ' The
memory of the just is blessed.' "
In the same cemetery, over the grave of Josiah Jenkins, is the
following inscription :
"Time was, like you, I life possest.
And time will be that you must rest."
238 APPENDIX.
On the stone which marks the spot -where the remains of Samuel
Washburn repose, is the folloYring inscription :
•' Around tliis monumental stoue,
Let friendship drop a sacred tear ;
The husband kind, the parent fond,
The upright man, lies buried here,"
On the grave-stone of Rev. Freeman Sears is inscribed the fol-
lowing verse :
" To us — his flock — his death does speak ;
Be Trise in time — your Saviour seek ;
He loves his own, he makes them blest.
They die in peace, in Heaven they rest."
In the North Cemetery -we find the stone which marks the last
resting-place of Capt. John Felch. It bears the date of Oct. 28,
1776.
He was a soldier in the Ilevolutio;iarj army, and feU at the battle
<jf White Plains, aged 47.
Among others, we note the following epitaphs on different stones in
town :
" Gone, but not lost."
•< As we have bourn the image of the earthly, so we must bear the image of tht;
Heavenly." . «
"My soul, this curious house of clay.
This present frail abode.
Must quickly fall to worms a prey,
And thou rettun to God."
' " Just budded to bloom in glory."
" The choicest flowers are plucked in bloom."
" Our bud of hope, though bhghted here.
Will blossom in a brighter sphere.
Where death can never come."
'• He was dear to us."
«• Death but entombs the body — life, the soul."
" The sweet remembrance of the just
Shall flourish when they sleep in dust."
APPENDIX. 239
INTERESTING LOCALITIES IN THE VICINITY OF
NATICK.
HARMONY GROVE.
If the courteous reader, who has followed us thus far, through dry
detail and description, through accidents, fires, and murders, wil
accept of our invitation, we will relieve him from the tedium of these
events bj a few short excursions of pleasure to places within a few
miles of Natick, and to which her citizens often resort for the same
purpose. We ask him first to accompany us to Harmony Grove,
in Framingham, so justly celebrated for the beauty of the scenery
surrounding it, and so much frequented by conventions and parties
of pleasure.
It is located in the south part of that beautiful town, and about
three miles from Natick, to the west. It is owned by Messrs. Ben-
net, Clarks, and Manson, and is under the superintendence of Henry
D. Howard, Esq. It contains about twelve acres of woodland, with
the Framingham Branch Railroad running on its western side, and
Framingham Farm Pond spread out beyond.
On the east side, near the new road from South Framingham to
Framingham Centre, is the house for entertainment. It is two
stories high, with a large L, and affords conveniences adequate to
the wants of the largest companies. The view is bounded on the
east by the village of South Framingham, and on the west you are
shut in by trees which skirt the Avestern borders of the pond.
A semi-circular dell within the grove serves as an amphitheatre
to accommodate audiences who feel an interest in the questions of
moment, which from time to time agitate the public mind, while
those who give dull care to the wind, and
»•
" Trip it as they go
On the light, fantastic toe,"-
find a convenient resort on the western side of the grove, in a
pavilion built for that purpose.
240 APPENDIX.
At the south part of the grounds are convenient places for the tables
of 'Pic Nic parties," while boats on the pond, swings on the trees
and cisterns of Nature's cooling beverage in different parts of the
grounds, render this the most delightful resort for parties of
pleasure to be found in Massachusetts.
The lake and grove and landscape around forcibly reminded me,
when jBrst I saw it, of Mrs. Sigourney's lines, descriptive of another
scene of rural beauty :
" Full many a year lias passed away,
Thou rude old wood, so stem, and gray,
Since first there came enthusiast lone.
To gaze upon thy beauties strown.
Though wintry blast and sweeping rain
May mark thee with their iron stain.
Yet, freshly springing at my feet,
New beauties wreathe their garlands sweet ;
Young flowers the ancient wilds perfume ;
In hermit dells the roses bloom.
And foliage wraps, in mantle deep,
The hemlock branches rude and stecj:).
StUl spreads the lake its mirror clear ;
The forest warblers charm the ear ;
The glorious prospect opens wide
Its varied page in summer's pride.
And tasteful hands have deftly wove
Enchantment's spell o'er vale and grove."
Already has this grove been consecrated by some of the most
eloquent voices of Massachusetts, and undoubtedly each returning
season will see it visited by pleasure parties of all descriptions.
COUNTRY RESIDENCES OF II. H. HUNNEWELL, ESQ.
Two miles from the centre of Natick, on the land which in 1797
Natick gave to Needham for that portion of the town now known as
Walnut Hill, is situated the mansion of Mr. Hunnewell, to which
Ave wish to take the reader, that he may have the pleasure of seeing
the results of a dozen years of scientific cultivation of the ground,
with the advantages of unlimited means and cultivated taste.
APPENDIX. 241
Twenty years since, a barren plain, with an ordinary farm house,
and pine trees surrounding it, was all that could be seen on the site
of this elegant establishment. By the means of peat mud, more
than two hundred acres of light, sandy soil has been converted into
that which is capable of producing the largest crops of all descrip-
tions. A full account of the trees, hedges, houses for various pur-
poses, ponds, fences, might fill a volume.
The lines of a gifted American poetess, as descriptive of the
whole scene, may be quoted without exaggerating its charms •
«' What blended beauties cheer the sight 1
The distant mountains' misty height ;
The circling prospect's cultured bound ;
The echoing forests' attic round ;
The locust copse where warblers throng
And pour to heayen the tuneful song ;
The flowers in bright profusion seen ;
The luscious figs' luxurious green ;
The clasping vine, whose clusters rare
Seem as of genial France the qare ;
The curtaining jessamine, that breathes
Rich fragrance from its snowy wreaths ;
The halls whose varied stores impart
The classic pencil's magic art ;
The chisel's life-bestowing power ;
The lore which cheats the studious hour ;
How strong the speU these charms impart,
To strike the eye and cheer the heart."
The mansion itself is built on the banks of the sheet of water
known as Bullard's Pond. Artificial terraces and several flights of
steps descend to the water from the house. The circular declivity
of the hill on each side of the steps is covered with -a growth of
forest trees, through which openings have been made to obtain
views of the water from the piazzas of the mansion.
In front of the house, between it and the road, is a lawn of sev-
eral acres in extent, vf'ith a circular avenue surrounding it, and bear-
ing here and there groups of trees of various descriptions. Nor-
way spruces and common pines, cut into conical form, may be seen
in different parts.
An acre of land to the right of the house is enclosed by an open
fence to shield it from the winds. It contains the choicest kinds of
pears, and other fruit trees, planted in rows. We have no space
16.
242 APPENDIX.
for a description of the mansion house, the various lodges, the
grapery, the gardener's cottage, parks, lawns, and gardens, and
other objects of interest on the premises, and shall close our
sketch with a description of an architectural flower garden, in the
rear of the house.
It is of the same width as the house, and laid out very neatly, with
all the beds edged with iron basket work, and gay with the finest roses,
verbenas, fuchisias, &c. This garden opens on the descending
flight of steps before mentioned. From this garden to the left of
the house a broad walk leads along the grounds, and through a
plantation of trees, terminated by one of the most complete summer
houses in the country.
The design is by Mr. Hunnewell, and is executed with larch and
cedar poles. It is octagonal, with projecting roofs and rustic posts,
over which climb roses, honeysuckles, woodbine, &c. The panel-
ling of the interior is finely executed, and the windows, of different
colored panes of glass, afford some of the finest views both of the
water and lawn in front, in all the varied hues of purple, gold, and
crimson. In front is a small grotto from which gushes a fountain of
crystal water.
ROAD BRIDGE, NEWTON LOWER FALLS.
At the village of Newton Lower Falls are several objects which
attract the notice of the traveller as well as other persons visiting them.
The village itself is five miles to the east of Natick, and commends
itself to strangers at once as one of the most pleasing in Massachu-
setts. There is a similarity, a homogeneousness, about both the
architecture of the houses and the character of the inhabitants.
After a view of the village, the Road Bridge, one-fourth of a
mile to the south, attracts the notice of the visitor. It is built on a
single arch, and is said to exhibit the most beautiful specimen of
masonry on the whole line of the aqueduct, both in its proportion and
finish.
It is a dry bridge and the common road passes beneath it. It is
of solid blocks of unhewn granite laid in mortar ; each side of the
bridge is circular and about forty feet high, surmounted by a marble
Blab inscribed with the name of the architect, engineer, &o.
APPENDIX. 243
From this bridge, Newton Centre, a beautiful and quiet village,
where the Theological Seminary is situated, may be seen to the
right The Lower Falls village, enveloped in trees, with the classic
Charles winding through it, is to the left.
CHARLES RIVER BRIDGE.
The next object of interest we shall notice is the bridge by which
the water of Lake Cochituate is carried over Charles River.
The bridge is built on three arches, the line of the bridse running
nearly east and west. On the eastern side, quite at the top of the
hill, is a pipe chamber. Two iron pipes, some fourteen and ten
inches in diameter, communicate with the culvert here, and by
means of iron gates which are set across them, they can at any mo-
ment be filled or emptied. A communication is also instituted
between the two by broad cross pipes and gates. With the aid
of these pipes, the culvert can be instantly emptied whenever it
becomes desirable to repair.
The bridge itself, though a plain, unostentatious one, cannot fail
to strike the careful observer as a most elegant structure. The
water is carried over these arches, or rather it flows down in the
culvert over them. As we stand above the bridge beside the river
and look at the arches, we perceive an indescribable something, an
air of elegance and perfection about their curves as rare as it is
pleasing. The scenery about the bridge is such as is often wit-
nessed in New England landscape. To appreciate the scene it must
be visited.
The bridge is approached by a narrow road curving along the
western bank of the river above the bridge. Standing on this bank
above the bridge, with your face directed southward at the extreme
right high on the hill, and partially concealed by trees, you see the
pipe chamber. This is a small, snug, faultless edifice of granite,
containing a gate or lock for staying the water, or letting it into the
c^ilvert below, as may be required. A bird's-eye view from the top
of this chamber is well worth the journey so frequently performed
for its sake.
244
APPENDIX.
GATE-HOUSE OF BOSTON WATER WORKS.
The gate-house of the Boston Water Works is situated about two
and a half miles from the middle of Natick, and is justly admired for
the symmetry of its proportions and the beauty of its design. It is an
edifice of solid granite, constructed with all that elegance and dura-
bility which cTiaracterize all the works on this aqueduct.
The exterior of this structure at first sight presents the appearance
of a New England school-house of the last century, but on a nearer
inspection we see that it must be part of a project, in which the wealth
of towns would be lost. It contains the machinery for drawing water
from the pond and introducing it into the culvert, through the gate-
house ; also of regulating the supply as may be desired. If you enter
the house you will find huge iron screws constructed for raising and
lowering the gates. Descending the stone steps you find the atmos-
phere damp and chilly, whatever may be the weather outside. You
can there see a section of the aqueduct itself, and inspect the manner
of its construction. Everything appears as though it was intended
to last to the end of time.
From the windows of the gate-house you look on what appears to
be an artificial lake. From where you stand, stone embankments on
each side enclose the lake, to secure them from pressure of the water,
either lateral or perpendicular. If you feel disposed to circumambu-
late the water, a neat, elevated walk offers itself for your accommo-
dation. The prospect in the summer season is one of the most
agreeable.
One thing to strike a person visiting the structure is the exactness
with which sound is daguerreotyped. Echo in the building is of
great loudness and force, and in some cases returns answers of great
point, as well as in Yankee style. " Who is to be Governor ? "
" How 's Boston going ? " questions which, when spoken and directed
into the building, are returned with almost perfect exactness.
Carriages can be obtained for this excursion at any of the stables
in town, or the Saxon ville cars will leave passengers within a few
rods of it.
APPENDIX. 245
FARM POND IN SHERBORN.
This beautiful sheet of water, which lies four and a half miles to
the south of Natick Centre is the frequent resort of pleasure parties
in the vicinity. It is retired, and is surrounded by a most delightful
scenery.
It contains about 160 acres of surface, and is well stored with
pickerel, pout, perch and other fish. There is a beautiful island
within it, to which anglers often resort, to cook and feast on their
prey beneath the shade of the trees. This pond has no visible out
let, but a perennial rivulet, which empties into Charles River at the
distance of a mile, is constantly supplied by it.
About one quarter of a mile from this pond to the North is a min-
eral spring, which was much prized by the Indians, and is at the
present time by those acquainted with its qualities. A house for
entertainment, and boats for sailing parties, add to the attractions
of the place. Many regard this as the most pleasant resort in the
neighborhood for excursions of pleasure.
246 APPENDIX.
INDIAN DEEDS, ETC.
Many Indian deeds, duly executed, may be seen in the office of
the Register of Deeds for the counties of Suffolk and Middlesex, and
undoubtedly in the offices for other counties, showing the fact that
there was always, or generally, at least the form of a bargain between
the whites and Indians in relation to their lands ; and that whatever
may have been the attempts to overreach, the fee of the soil was al-
ways supposed to be vested in the red man, and not in the white.
It may be amusing to our readers to see specimens of these instru-
ments, and of treaties between Indians themselves and the whites
and Indians.
August 5, 1665, Quincy, then Braintree, was deeded in these
words :
" To all Indian people to whom these presents shall come, Wampu-
tuck, alias Jonah Sagamon, of Massathusetts, in New England, the
son of Chihatauhut, deceased, sendeth greeting : Know you that the
said Wampatuck being of full age and power, according to the order
and custom of the natives, bath, with the consent of his wise men, viz.,
Squamog, his brother Daniel, and Old Hahatun, and William JSian-
aniomott, Job Messott, Manuntago, William Nahenton, for good and
valuable reasons thereunto, and in special for £21 10s. in hand," &c.
It was subscribed and witnessed thus :
" JosiAH, alias Wampatuck, his 10 mark,
Daniel Squamog, and a mark,
Old Nahatun, and a mark,
William Manunion, and a mark.
Job Noistenus,
Robert, alias Mamuntago, and a mark,
William Hahatun.
In presence of :
Thomas Keyahgunsson, and a mark 0,
losEPH Manunion, his mark 1 ,
Thomas Heymous, his mark."
APPENDIX. 247
There is a quit-claim deed from " Charles Josias, alias Jbsiaa
Wampatuck, grandson of Chikataubut,''^ dated 19th March, 1695, of
Boston and the adjacent country, and the islands of the harbor, to the
" proprietated inhabitants of the town of Boston," to be seen among
the Suffolk Records. Wampatuck says, or some one for him, " For-
asmuch as I am informed and well assured from several ancient
Indians, as well those of my council as others, that upon the first
coming of the English to settle down in those parts of New England,
my abovenamed grandfather, Chikataubut, by and with the advice
of his council, for encouragement thereof moving, did give, grant, sell,
alienate, and confirm unto the English planters," the lands above
named.
Beside Josias, there signed this deed with him Akawton, Sen.,
William Hahaton and Robert Manentangu.
The following is a copy of a letter, received at Natick, from some
Indians, by Mr. Eliot, during King Philip's war :
" For Mr. Eliot, Mr. Gookin, and Mr. Waban : — Consider of this,
I entreat you ; consider of this great business that is done, and my
wonder concerning Philip, but his name is Wewesawanit ; he
engageth all the people that were none of his subjects. Then when
I was at Pennkook, 3Iempho John Alim Sam Mempho, and others
who were angry, and Mempho very much angry that Philip did en-
gage so many people to him ; and Mempho said it were a very good
deed that I should go and kill him that joined so many to himself
without cause. In like manner I s^id so too. Then had you for-
merly said bo at peace, and if the Council had sent word to kill Philip j
we should have done it. Then let us clearly speak what we and you
shall do. ! let it be so speedily, and answer us clearly.
Pamkamun,
ponkakpukun."
The following is the code of laws adopted for the government of
Natick, in 1661, in addition to the appointment of judges, as men-
tioned in the history :
1. If any man be idle a week, or at most a fortnight, he shall pay
five shillings.
2. If any unmarried man shall lie with a young woman unmarried,
be shall pay twenty shillings.
3. If any man shall beat his wife, his hands shall be tied behind
him, and he shall be carried to the place of justice, to be severely
punished.
248 APPENDIX.
4. Every young man, if not another's servant, and if unmarried,
shall be compelled to set up a "oig'wam and plant for himself, and not
shift up and down among the wigwams.
5. If any woman shall not have her hair tied up, but hang loose,
or be cut as men's hair, she shall pay five shillings.
6. If any woman shall go with naked breasts she shall pay two
shillings.
7. All men that wear long locks shall pay five shillings.
8. If any shall kill their lice between their teeth, they shall pay
five shillings.
In closing this work, the author wishes to say that he has often
taken the liberty to use not only the works of others for data and refer-
ence, but sometimes their verjt words, considering it much more impor-
tant to be correct than original.
EXTRACTS
FROM
PEOFESSOR STOWE'S ADDRESS
AT THE
CELEBRATION OF THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE TOWN OF NATICK.
Two hundred years ago to-day, there occurred on this spot a sin-
gular but most interesting transaction ; a scene on which angels then
looked down with delight, and which good men will recall to mind
when they wish to think well of their race. It was in the midst of a
dense primitive forest, the sun was shining upon the aged trees, whose
foliage had already begun to assume the variegated, gorgeous hues
of a New England autumn ; on either bank of yonder silver stream
were little patches of cultivation, each furnished with its own rude
dwelling, and the two shores were connected by a bridge built by
unpractised hands and of the most primitive construction. On this
plateau, and perhaps under this very oak, was collected a group of
red men, with their women and children, who had just been rescued
from the darkness and squalidness of savage life, and won to the gen-
tleness of Christian civilization ; with affectionate earnestness every
swarthy face was turned towards the tree where stood the venerated
man of God, his countenance all aglow with inward joy in contem-
plating a noble triumph achieved for the glory and in the spirit of
Christ ; beside him was standing a cluster of English gentlemen,
whose bearing and dress bespoke them of superior rank, watching the
spectacle with a benevolent but half incredulous admiration ; while
250 PROF, stowe's address.
the tall form of an Indian chief and the earnest face of an Indian
Teacher complete the interesting picture.
This is the first essay towards civilizing the red men of the Amer-
ican forest ; this is the first company of praying Indians that was ever
gathered by a Protestant Missionary ; here is John Eliot, the sainted
apostle, than whom a worthier one never bore the name ; here is
Endicott, the stern Puritan, the royal Governor of Massachusetts ;
and Wilson, the grave and venerable pastor of Boston, and others
their associates ; here is Waban, the converted Sagamon, and Mone-
quasson, the Indian schoolmaster ; and they are assembled to thank
God for his great mercy in bringing them to a knowledge of Christ,
and to complete their organization as a Christian community.
Christianity never produced, the world never saw, a purer or bet-
ter man than John Eliot. Doubtless he has had his equals, but never
a superior, in Christian zeal and goodness. He was a man of great
versatility, and very superior intellectual power. Earnest thought, iron
diligence, extensive scholarship, rigid common sense, a perseverance
which no difficulty could exhaust, and a courage which no danger
could appal, were prominent in every part of his career. With these
qualities were united all the mildness, benevolence, disinterestedness
and humility of the matured Christian character. He was always at
work, and never for any other object than the glory of God and the
good of mankind. In his numerous writings and labors, there can
be found no stain of ambition, or vanity, or avarice, or any other form
of self-seeking. Like Him whom he served, he devoted his most earn-
est thoughts, his most arduous labors, to the poor and the friendless,
to the wretched and the outcast, to those who had no earthly reward
to give him in return. The impotent and the blind, the hated Indian,
the despised negro, and the helpless slave, were most precious in his
eyes, because they most needed his help. In addition to the pastoral
care of a large parish, he performed as much missionary labor and
in as difficult circumstances as any missionary in modern times; and,
with all this, wrote and published more pages of books than most men
who give themselves exclusively to literary labor ; and all for the
love of God and the love of man ; for earthly reward he sought not,
nor would he receive it when offered. He had enemies during his
PROF. STOWES ADDRESS?
251
life, who misinterpreted his motives and misrepresented his acts ; but
no word of impatience or anger towards them, ever escaped his pen
or his lips ; and before the close of his long career his unwavering
virtue had hushed all slander to silence. Said Shepherd, of Cam-
bridge, " I think we can never love and honor this man of God
enough ; " and Cotton Mather observes, " We had a tradition among
us, that the country could never perish while Mr. Eliot was alive."
When in his old age he desired a colleague, and wished to relinquish
his own stipend, his parishioners would not hear of it, but declared
that " they would account his beloved presence among them, even if
he rendered no other service, as worth a salary." Such was the love
for him in the Indian church here at Natick, that they were exceed-
ingly reluctant to elect any other church officer while he was alive,
and for a long time, notwithstanding his earnest solicitations, posi-
tively refused to do it. Such is the reward of the genuine good man,
even in this world : he is misunderstood, hated, maligned ; but by
patient continuance in well-doing, by still loving even those who scorn
and injure him, and laboring for their good, he at length conquers all,
and begins to live in heaven before he has quite left the earth.
His theology Eliot derived from the Scriptures, and in his reflec-
tions on the sacred text often struck out thoughts which have been
vaunted as the discoveries of a verient and more perfected philosophy.
In one of his letters to Baxter, speaking of the " likeness of God" in
which it is said (Gen. 1 : 26) that man was created, he suggests
that one chief thing in this likeness is, that we can act like God, ac-
cording to our light, freely, by choice, without compulsion, that we
can be the authors of our own acts, and determine our own choice.
" This," says he, " is spontaneity ; the nature of the will lieth in this."
Since Eliot's time volumes of pretentious metaphysics have been
written, on the nature of the will and the moral freedom of man, most
of which have fallen short of, and none have gone beyond, this simple
Buggestion of the humble and unconscious Indian missionary.
Even his Indian converts were so taught by him, that they sometimes
gave answers to theological questions, which, if well considered,
might be of use to professors of divinity. To the question, What is
sin ? one of his Indians rephed. There is the root-sin, an evil heart ;
and there is actual sin, the breaking of the law of God. Their reli-
252 . PROF, stowe's address.
gious experience also testified to the fidelity of his practical instruc-
tions. " Mj heart is foolish," confessed one, " and a great part of the
word stayeth not in it strongly." He not only translated the whole
Bible into their barbarous and difficult language, and distributed
among them some three or four thousand copies of it, but he also
versified in Indian metre the Psalms, setting them to tunes, which they
sang with great delight. He made Indian translations of the " Prac-
tice of Piety," " Baxter's Call to the Unconverted," which, he said,
would interest the Indians on account of " the keenness of its edge and
the liveliness of its spirit; " also of " Shepherd's Sincere Convert and
Sound Believer." He wrote, also, in the Indian dialect, a Primer, a
Catechism, and a System of Logick. Besides these labors, he aided in
making a version of the Psalms in English, with tunes, for the use of
the English congregations ; the sermons which he preached to his
own people were faithfully and studiously elaborated ; and he found
time to write several important works in the English language, among
which his " Christian Commonwealth, or the Civil Policy of the Liv-
ing Kingdom of Jesus Christ," is one of the most important. This
work is far too liberal and democratic for the times in which it ap-
peared — the early part of the reign of Charles II — and he was
required by the General Court to retract it, a requisition to which
he modestly submitted.
As the fruit of his missionary labors, he at length saw some fifteen
or twenty communities of praying Indians, comprising in all not less
than three thousand five hundred souls. According to the best testi-
mony that is now attainable, these communities, during the life of
Eliot, and while unmolested by the whites, were quiet, orderly and
Christian-like ; they were engaged in agriculture, and the most sim-
ple and necessary of the mechanic arts ; they sustained schools, they
read their Bibles and sung their psalms ; " they walked in the fear
of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Ghost." The congregation here
at Natick particularly, where Eliot set up a weekly lecture on " logic
and theology," for the purpose of training teachers and ministers,
became a sort of seminary, from which many went forth to preach the
Gospel to others. His labors were not only abundant and faithful,
but also preeminently successful. It is true, as some one has said,
that the great majority of the Indians made but " sorry Christians ; "
PROF, stowe's address. 253
but this has always been equally true of the great majority of white
men.
He labored, however, among a race which was destined to pass
away from the earth, and the ripe fruits of his labors have long since
been gathered into the garner of heaven ; and there he now is, happy,
and through eternity will be happy, in these the seals of his ministry
in the crown of his rejoicing ; for they are and will ever remain his
glory and Us joy. Though the race has passed away, he did not
labor in vain, nor will he lose his* reward.
•5
Our fathers in their public documents frequently referred to the
spreading of the Gospel in these remote parts of the world, and the
conversion of the Indians, as one of the chief motives of their enter-
prise ; and doubtless they were sincere and earnest in these declara-
tions, for religious men as they were, and deeply imbued with the
spirit of Christianity, they could not think or feel otherwise. But af-
ter they had begun to feel the unwonted hardship of a wilderness life,
and all their strength, and time, and feeling had become absorbed in
the labor to provide for the merest physical necessities of themselves
and their little ones, and especially after the first manifestations of
Indian hostility, and they had heard the savage war-whoop and felt
the murdering hatchet, and seen their newly built dwellings and their
laboriously cultivated fields wrapped in flames and ruthlessly laid
waste, the zeal of many began to cool, their love and faith began to
fail, and the desire to convert the Indians was in many minds changed
to a desire for their extermination ; yet, amid the hostile and the in-
different, there was a faithful few who adhered to their first principles,
and Eliot had always some to second his views. But his zeal and
courage in the cause went so far beyond his cotemporaries, that on
more than one occasion he was justified in saying, " I was alone as I
have been wont to be." Any one who has been engaged in an ar-
duous and self-denying work of benevolence, and taken upon himself
the responsibility of it, perceives at once what volumes of melancholy
meaning are couched in those few simple words.
The Indians were sometimes seized and sold into slavery, to the
West Indies, to South America, and even as far as to the shores of
254 PROF, stowe's address.
the Mediterranean, an outrage and a crime which Eliot never failed
loudlj to protest against, notwithstanding the popular clamor against
him, and the cautionings of the prudent that he might as well let that
matter alone. Often his own slender means and the charities of his
friends were exhausted in redeeming the wretched captives from their
pitiless oppressors. It came to be a common impression, that the red
men must perish, and many cared not how speedily or by what means.
A doomed race ceases to excite pity ; those who are continually in-
jured at length are hated ; and the men who can oppress and grind
them with long impunity at last begin to imagine that God cares as
little for them as they do. But this is a great mistake. Even an
old Hebrew prophet, in the days of the theocracy, rebuked the
Israelitish nation, for imagining that they were exclusively the objects
of the divine care, and that the nations which they despised, or feared,
or hated, were forsaken or abhorred of God. Are ye not as children
of the Ethiopians unto me, children of Israel? saith the Lord.
Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Phil-
istines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? — Amos 9:7. And
the apostle Paul with great expHcitness exclaims, Is He the Qod of
the Jeivs only ? is Re not also of the Cfentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles
also. Rom. 3 : 29.
We Anglo-Saxon Americans of the present generation seem to need
instruction on this point as much as the ancient Hebrews did.
The apostle Eliot was one who had fully realized the Christian idea.
He obeyed the command of Christ and was happy, and his memory is
blessed ; and even those who have no disposition to follow his exam-
ple, cannot fail to admire his character. It is to the credit of human
nature, that disinterested and simple goodness like his should call
forth so much admiration. The amount of talent, and energy, and
labor, and cultivated mind, which he employed, in a most difficult and
uninviting work, which at the time would yield him neither honor nor
wealth, nor power, nor party favor, nor ecclesiastical advancement,
nor social position, nor any conceivable wordly advantage ; the fact
that he pursued this work through a long life, and without ever fal-
tering, notwithstanding discouragements and hardships of every kind,
show a strength of inward principle, a pure and earnest love to God
PROF, stowe's address. 255
and man, which is the rarest excellence of even public benefactors,
and which most of those whom the world calls great, have the mod-
esty not even to pretend to.
Among the marks of progress in modern times is the fact that the
public honors which formerly were lavished exclusively on warriors
and statesmen, now begin to be awarded to men of personal worth,
of peaceful service, of unobtrusive and useful lives. It will be a step
still further in advance when such men as Eliot receive these honors ;
and that community will confer on itself the most enduring honor,
who shall from pure admiration of the deeds and virtues of the apostle
of the Indians, erect to him a monument worthy of his name.
FINIS
ALPHABETICAL L\DEX.
PAUt;.
Address at Bi-Centennial Celebration, 34-249.
Address at Consecration of " Doll Park," 111.
Address at Presentation of Banner, 179.
Address at Eliot Tea Party, 17.
Adams, Hon. Chester, 142.
Act, erecting Natick into a district, 40.
Allegiance, oath of, 45.
Anniversary, second centennial, 31.
Anagram of Eliot, GO,
Anecdotes of Indians, Sec, ! 23.
Accidents, 221 .
Adjoining towns, 197.
Attoi'neys at Law, 131.
Banner presentation, 179.
Bacon, Josiali C, 225.
]>oden, Wm., Esq., monument to, 237.
Broad, Hczekiah, 133.
Bigelow, Wm., poetry of, ? 138.
Burying-grounds, 111.
Bunker Hill ". 43.
Broad family, 124.
Bacon family, 124.
Bridge, Indian, 9.
Barn, J. Washburn's, 227.
Benevolent Society, 162.
Bigelow, William, sketch of life, 187.
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, picture of, 194.
Boundaries, 10.
Brooks, — Snake, Bacon's. Sawin's, &c., 102.
Botany of Natick, 99.
17
25b INDEX.
)
PAGE.
Extracts i'rnm records 41.
Eliot, Eev. Jolin, 12.
Ephraiin, Dea 28.
Eliot, incidents in life of, ' 1^.
Eliot, anecdote of, 20.
Eliot, petitions of to General Court 13-14.
Education, 128.
Epitaphs on grave-stones 237.
Eliot monument, 23.
Employment of people, 149.
Framinghara. 108.
Fires, .T 227.
Fisheries, 103.
Fish,, 103.
Fish officers, 103.
First settlement, 0.
Felch, Capt. John, *. 138.
Felch, Isaac, 153.
Felch, Eben, 122.
Felch family, 124.
Fisk family, 124.
Fisk, Hannah, 222.
High School, : . . . 127.
Hills, — Pegan, Perry's, Broad's, Train's, Tom's, Carver's, .... 7.
History, statistical, 122.
History, ecclesiastical, 49.
History, official, 129.
History, social, 162.
Harmony Grove, 139.
Hayes family, 124.
Hanchett, E. & F., 153.
Historical items, • \ 24.
Indians, Praying, 21.
Indians, number of, . . . 21.
Inhabitants, .122.
Individuals, distinguished, 142.
.lones, John, Esq., 72.
Littlefield, Nathaniel W 125.
Lands exchanged with Needham in 1797, 240.
Lands exchanged with Sherborn, 25.
Land, division of, 10.
Lands undivided, 25.
r jS' D K X . 259
PAGE.
Lexington, battle of, 42.
Lyceunas, 1 63.
Libraries, 163.
Localities, interesting, 239.
Letter of Indians to Eliot, 15.
Ministry of Rev. Freeman Sears, 72.
Ministry of Rev. Martin Moore, 85.
Ministry of Kev. E. D. Moore, 89.
Ministry of Rev. Samuel Hunt, 89.
Ministiy of Rev. Elias Nason, 95.
Meeting-house, Baptist, 108.
Meeting-bousc, Orthodox, 107.
Meeting-house, Unitarian, 107.
Meeting-house, Methodist, 108.
Meeting-house, Universalist, 108.
Masonic Lodge, 164.
Manufactui-es, amount of, 154.
Markets, 8.
?J.ilitary Company at Bunker Hill, 44.
Manufactories, number of, 8.
Morse family, 122.
Morse, Samuel, 122.
Morse, Capt. David, 123.
Morse, Amory, buildings of, , . 227.
Natick, when settled, 9.
Natick, prospects of, 159.
Natick, first settlers of, 40.
Natick, taxation of, 126.
Natick, valuation of, 125.
Natick, lalitv'.dc and longitude of, 7.
Odd Fellows, 164.
Old Tenor, 127.
Oration of Rev. Freeman Sears, 75.
Plaijis, 9.
Postmasters, 105.
Physicians, 135.
Peace of 1783, 45.
Proprietors of Natick, 46.
Plants and flowers, 235.
Pond Farm in Framingham, 239.
Pond Farm in Sherborn 245.
Pond Dug, 101.
260 I K L) i: X .
PAGE.
Pond Nonesuch, 101.
Post Offices, 105.
Preachers in Methodist Society, 97.
Perry, Samuel, 224.
Representatives of town, 134.
River Charles, 101.
Roads, common, 104.
Railroads, 104.
Rider, Wm,, 46.
Ross, John S., 222.
Streets, 8.
Slavery, 125.
Selectmen, 132.
Schools, grants for, 128.
Sherborn, 198.
Settlers, fiirst white, 40.
Stowe, Prof. Calvin E., 140.
School districts, 129.
School committee, 131.
Shoes made in Natick, 154.
Stone, Nathan, 221.
School-houses, 108.
Sassamon, 29.
Tui-npikes, 104.
Town Hall, 108.
Temperance, 165.
Time, computation of changed, 185.
Trees, ' 99.
Towns, other {.raying, 233.
Town clerks, 133.
Takawampait, Daniel, 29.
Temperance, Sons of, 165.
United States, Constitution of, 45.
Valuation, 125.
Wight, Rev. Daniel, 141.
Ward, Benjamin, 222.
Ward, Artcmas, 224.
Weston, 199.
Wayland, 199.
Walcott, Edward, Esq., 146.
Water, analysis of, 101.
War, Pequod, 28.
I N 11 K X
201
PAGE.
War, King Philip'^, 22.
Wai-, French and Indian, 21.
War, revolutionary, 41.
AVilson, Hon. Henry, 143.
Walcott, J. B., 153.
Washburn, Samuel, 224.
Washburn, Elijah, 225.
Waban, 28.
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